Pathways
by ShipperWriter
Summary: When Enterprise encounters a duplicate ship, T'Pol is sent for recon, but taking her counterpart's place makes her learn a lesson about the man in love with her. Meanwhile, Trip wonders why he can read T'Pol's thoughts. AU for "In a Mirror Darkly", S4.
1. Chapter 1

Hi, everybody! In accordance with my bio that says I'm a Trip/T'Pol shipper, I figured I was overdue and should post this.

This is an _Enterprise_ story that I wrote for the HouseofTucker website a few years ago - well, five years ago, to be specific. I thought I should post these here for your reading enjoyment as well. If you are Trip/T'Pol fans, I definitely encourage you to check out .com/fiction/. My author name was Energy4TripnT'Pol.

"Pathways" is an AU version of "In a Mirror, Darkly." Coulda happened. In another place. :-D

Disclaimer: Paramount owns all rights to Star Trek. I own nothing except a deep love of Trip Tucker.

Enjoy, and please review!

* * *

><p><span>CHAPTER ONE<span>

A lone man was wandering the hallways on an _Enterprise_ he had been on for four years. He was slightly limping as he walked, but he found it only made the crew avoid him more. If someone stopped too long to talk, it was a strong possibility that a certain tactical officer with a dark goatee would round the corner, draw his phase pistol, and shoot both parties.

He shook his slightly blonde hair. In his life, Vulcans and humans weren't exactly the best of friends, and if you were on this ship and seen with one, the tactical officer would shoot without hesitation.

And Malcolm Reed seemed to like it a lot. Too much, the man thought.

So in a way, he was sneaking around. It wasn't visible to the crew, but they didn't know where he was going.

It was for the best. If they knew where he was going, Malcolm would have a clear shot at him.

He approached the quarters of someone from the shadows. He waited to make sure that everyone had emptied the corridors before he approached the door.

His hand instinctively went to the doorbell. He was always quick outside the door; even though there were only 73 people on this ship – 71 after Malcolm's last known incident – it seemed like someone was always walking. It was better for them to stay in their quarters. It was definitely safer and eliminated a risk from his personal life.

A distinctively feminine voice quickly replied, "Come," with as much authority as she could muster.

The man took one last look at the corridors, all around, and entered. As he did so, he slipped his left hand into his pocket and found his ring, trying to wrangle it clandestinely on to his finger.

Immediately, the woman inside – the Vulcan woman with the upswept brow, the pointed ears, and sable colored eyes – noticed the limp. She rose from her bed, laying the book she had been reading on the desk, and went to him. Her closed satin robe showed she had been expecting only him as company this evening, brief at that – yet on this ship, whenever the captain decided she was needed on the Bridge, there was never any warning.

The person standing before her was the only stability in her life.

And sometimes, she reflected that he lived up to another definition of his nickname.

"Trip, what happened?"

Trip Tucker shrugged as if he had a normal day, very unlike his life. "Got shot in the leg. That's all."

She raised her hand gently to his face. "Trip," she said, slightly reprimanding him while she stroked his cheek.

He smiled at her. "It's okay. Just that Malcolm decided I was leading a mutiny or something. If it hadn't been for the captain . . . ." He trailed off, looking towards the window. He saw a star going by and turned back to the woman he loved, the only one he could ever love now. He knew that in her case, being as how Vulcans were usually unemotional beings, he was the only person – not to mention human – that she was ever capable of loving. "Doesn't hurt that bad. Not anymore."

T'Pol looked sharply at him. "Did you go to Sickbay?"

"Nah. Only thing I need to make me feel better is being around you."

A slight smile came to her lips. Trip leaned down slightly and kissed her gently, then deeper as her hands went to the back of his head. She broke off. Trip looked worried at her. "T'Pol? What's wrong?"

"Everything," she whispered, burying herself in Trip's protective arms. "You have to move quietly around the ship, always checking to make sure you are not being followed." She slightly shrugged. "Even then it's not a guarantee."

Trip looked down at her, moving his hand to her chin. He tipped it upwards. "People do crazy things for love."

She nodded. "Agreed."

Trip leaned back down and kissed her once more, and then released her. "I've gotta go. Otherwise some people may be suspicious."

"Besides our cynical captain?" she said stoically, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, it's not really his fault. But – oh, forget it. I'll see you soon."

"Not soon enough," she said, terminating the conversation with one last kiss for the night.

"I love you, always," he said, as he held up his left hand slightly and let the light gleam off the ring.

"I know," she answered in a soft whisper after looking at it.

Had his life not been in jeopardy for being in her room, he would have stayed longer, just to stay with her and hold her. But knowing how jeopardy was a part of everyone's lives and how T'Pol might be called unexpectedly to the bridge, he took one last glance at her, turned around, and left her quarters.

Leaving was the worst part: not only did it leave T'Pol unprotected to a degree but he couldn't have an all clear until he got outside. Trip's hand slipped back into his pocket and he loosened the ring until it fell off his finger, then continued his walk through the corridors, back to the other side of the ship to his quarters, and entered solemnly and apprehensively.

A piece of pecan pie was sitting untouched on his desk, complete with a fork. A note lay next to it; Trip picked it up. He smiled as he recognized the handwriting. "T'Pol."

Knowing she was the last person on the ship that would poison his food, he picked up the fork and plate and dug in.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

On the NX-01, Commander Trip Tucker was trying to settle into a fitful night of sleep, something that didn't require much effort now.

He pulled his shirt off and laid it over the chair, just in case he needed to run to Engineering in the middle of the night or something else. Like a pecan pie run to the Mess Hall.

Trip groaned. He realized he was only kidding himself. The real reason he left his shirt there was because if T'Pol needed him, he would dash up and grab his shirt and run to her quarters and –

_Do what?_

Trip shook his head. She had told him that she didn't really need him. He made a quip about how "at least the warp engines still need me." She had given him one of her glances, and it made him chuckle.

The point was valid; she decided that while she finished reevaluating her life, she didn't need his support.

But when she came crumbling down, on the verge of an emotional breakdown as Trip had a feeling she would do, he would be the only one there.

He loved her. And if she wouldn't let him say it, then he would still show it in every way he could.

Moving the blankets on his bunk aside, Trip lay down and closed his eyes, knowing it was the closest he would get to sleep.

* * *

><p>Jonathan Archer thought he had seen his share of weird anomalies in space.<p>

And boy was he wrong.

The rest of the senior staff with the exception of Trip Tucker were standing on the Bridge, looking at a mass of nebulae clusters. T'Pol had made an unexpected announcement during her scans. "I'm detecting another ship. NX-class."

Reed crossed his arms. "I'm not saying anything."

"_Columbia_ is still running test circles between Vulcan and Earth," Archer noted. "Is it a sensor glitch?"

"No. Commander Tucker's last assessment of the sensors showed that they were functioning flawlessly." She swiveled in her seat and looked into her visual scanner. "I'm detecting something else."

Hoshi turned in her seat, looking slightly concerned. Archer glanced back at her and walked to her station. He said, "Weird is part of the job nowadays," attempting to make her smile, and succeeded. Looking a bit less worried, she turned back and he maneuvered around to the science station.

"I believe there is a temporal anomaly in the nebulae. The ship I'm detecting is the _Enterprise_ from a different timeline."

"I thought Vulcans don't believe in time travel," Archer said to calm his spinning head.

T'Pol narrowed her eyes and Archer suppressed a smile. "They don't and this is not time travel. However, the concept of alternate timelines is one that the Vulcan Science Academy attempted to investigate years ago."

"If we can detect them, can they detect us too?" Travis Mayweather asked from the helm.

"Indeed. I believe Commander Tucker's expertise is needed."

Archer nodded. "Head on down to Engineering and give Trip the heads-up."

Although she appeared briefly unsettled, she answered, "Yes, sir," and rose from her station. She entered the turbolift and headed down to Engineering.

Archer sat down in his chair and ordered, "Travis, take us a light year away until they jury-rig something."

Travis nodded and turned the ship around.

Hoshi looked up from her station and tried to calm her mind.

Malcolm Reed sat back in his seat with arms crossed, clearly uneasy.

Archer leaned back and silently wondered what else would go wrong.

* * *

><p>T'Pol found the chief engineer standing on the railing in front of the warp engine. Apparently, Trip had overheard the conversation on the Bridge and was already working on something. Or, T'Pol thought, he was trying his best to avoid her.<p>

Someone climbed the railing up to where he stood and told him something, and Trip turned around – too fast, she noted. He climbed down and approached her with a slightly apprehensive smile. "Hello, Commander. What can I do for you today?"

Another option flashed in T'Pol's mind. If he hadn't heard the conversation and was somewhat happy to see her, he was hoping nothing drastic had happened and she was here for another reason. Some days, the seeming "bond" irritated her.

Almost regretting to disappoint him, she shook her head. "Not now."

Trip hung his head playfully, as the smile was still not disappearing. "Oh, fine. What's up?"

She handed him a padd with information she had loaded from her console. "The nebulae cluster we just encountered contains a temporal anomaly. As a result, the _Enterprise_ in that reality is visible on sensors. As they can detect us as well, Captain Archer asked if you could reconfigure the warp coils to render us invisible to their sensors."

As Trip's mouth hung open aghast, T'Pol made a mental note. Give humans time to digest information that will surprise them, as drooling is most appalling to watch.

"Oh, sorry, what? A temporal anomaly?" Trip asked, slightly scratching his right temple.

"A temporal anomaly is reflecting sensors from an _Enterprise_ in an alternate reality. As a precaution, Captain Archer wanted to know if you could reconfigure the warp coils to render us invisible to their sensors," she said, speaking a bit more softly and slowly this time around.

Trip nodded and grinned. "Ya don't have to go _that_ slow. I heard you fine." He walked to the stairwell leading to the upper level in Engineering and as she followed behind, T'Pol found her eyes were looking at the way he was walking. It suggested that he had been weary lately. She thought perhaps she should ask what was wrong, but it would either ignite an argument or start a very long synopsis about how he had been feeling like this for a long time.

At the moment, neither option sounded good. She would talk with him later; the captain was still waiting for her to report back.

Trip began talking as he reached the top step. "I figure I can pull something together." Shrugging, he mentioned, "Might take a few hours."

"I anticipate that the captain is already aware of that after our last incident involved altering the warp coils."

Trip nodded. "Well, we are traveling away from the cluster at warp one. Looks like we aren't going too far."

"Perhaps the captain wishes to stay away a reasonable distance and still be in position so that if a situation arises—"

"You've been hangin' around Malcolm too much," Trip quipped. "Call the Bridge. Tell Travis to drop to impulse as soon as he can."

T'Pol reached for the comm. "T'Pol to the Bridge."

"Go ahead," Archer answered.

"Commander Tucker can modify the warp coils; however he needs the ship to drop out of warp."

"Dropping to impulse," Travis answered.

The warp engine flickered and as Trip and T'Pol looked at it, he moved next to her side. She tried to turn away, remembering one of the last times the warp engine was brought up in conversation. Just after she had tried to talk to Trip about the _Kir'Shara_ and what she couldn't make time for, he had said, "_Least the warp engines still need me._"

T'Pol had descended down the stairs without saying anything. She assumed by the small smile playing on his lips at the time that he was joking, but the way he had acted afterwards suggested otherwise.

She felt a small pain tugging in her chest; her hand instinctively went to it. Trip looked somewhat sideways at her. "You okay?"

"I'm unsure. I'm needed on the Bridge."

"I swear, that has to be your favorite excuse to get away from me," Trip said again in a joking manner.

T'Pol looked at him and gave him a small reprimanding glare. "And I will stop by Sickbay on my way."

"That's more like it. I'll get on these modifications and we can move back to the cluster in a few hours."

T'Pol nodded at him then descended back down the stairs. She quickly made her way to the hatch and let herself out of Engineering; she paused in the corridor, leaning against the bulkhead. She had a fleeting image of something Trip had once said to Kov when his ship docked with _Enterprise_.

"_Regret's one of the hardest emotions to live with._"

Regret. She was feeling a new emotion that she might end up living with, one that was related to Trip, and part of the regret was from knowing that Trip likely wouldn't help her deal with it.

T'Pol continued to the Bridge. She would visit Sickbay later and perhaps vent to Phlox. For the moment, all she could think was that she was a fool to push Trip away.

She was a fool.

And she was stubborn enough not to admit it.

Perhaps Trip did know her better than she knew herself; after all, she thought, much stranger things have happened.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

Jonathan Archer was mad.

Tucker had appeared on the Bridge one minute too late. He forgave his friend, but not by much.

Hoshi Sato was looking at him, slightly worried. As he was worried that it might hint at their relationship off the Bridge, he gave her a warning glance.

Malcolm Reed had stroked his goatee again on the Bridge. Archer considered having him shave it off.

And last of all, the new helmsman was nervously executing what Archer ordered. Archer really wished Reed hadn't begun his mutiny hunt and shot off the last one; Travis Mayweather was a good person. He could have grown into Archer's position as captain. He cocked his head; maybe Malcolm had been on to something there.

All in all, Archer was having a bad day. Ever since his father's death, his hatred at the Vulcans had only grown. Maybe our ancestors were onto something, he thought. They had warded them off during "first contact" and the Vulcans later returned, under the impression that humans had changed.

Archer showed them how.

Instead of running them off with his ship, he took only one of them hostage and made use of her as a science officer. She did her duty, and lately he allowed her free access around the ship. However, while off duty she was not allowed on the Bridge or Engineering. He didn't want her on the Bridge, influencing opinions while he was in his ready room or his quarters.

And he didn't want the Vulcan around Trip.

Trip was an excellent engineer; some could praise him as a genius. But she was a Vulcan; he was a human. And Trip was the last person on the ship he hated to see floating out the airlock, frozen at Reed's order.

Archer was mad. That and some of the crew called him cynical. He only laughed it off and chased it with some bourbon. He wasn't cynical.

Who exactly was calling him cynical?

Hmm, Archer thought. Another job for Malcolm. Maybe, just maybe, this ridiculous accusation might do him some good.

* * *

><p>On the NX-01 <em>Enterprise<em>, T'Pol was sitting at her station as Trip Tucker stepped out of the turbolift. He sighed softly, apparently looking for the captain. Seeing as how the chair was vacant, he walked to the ready room. He pressed the button, and waited on Archer to acknowledge him. T'Pol assumed that Captain Archer was hiding the cheese that he had just fed part of to Porthos.

The engineer turned and saw T'Pol was the only one watching him. She had noted he was still walking as if he had been missing sleep. He motioned for her to follow him. "You're probably gonna want to hear this, too."

She rose from her station. As she approached, she asked, "Did you experience difficulties with the warp coils?"

"Nah, they'll come online in a few minutes. But," he said, holding up the padd he was carrying with him, "there's a bonus."

"Come in."

Trip motioned for T'Pol to enter first, and he followed behind her. T'Pol had surmised correctly; Archer was still in the process of putting his cheese away while Porthos lay on the floor, content and at peace. Trip chuckled. "That dog eats better than me some days."

"Not tonight," Archer replied. "Chef is making chicken parmesan and a salad. But I imagine you aren't here for the menu."

"Even though I did feel like a steak, no. I just got done with the modifications to the warp coils. It'll take effect in a few minutes. However, I did a little side project for you. Their sensors are just off the frequency ours are, and I found a number of visual recorders positioned at different points on the ship. I was gonna start recording and cataloging the differences."

He glanced at the Vulcan standing next to him. "Thought T'Pol might appreciate it, having something new to report about one of the many spectacles of the universe."

"I would," she replied before Archer, pointing out, "Alternate realities are a physics topic that the Vulcan Science Academy has considered a possibility but have never seen any evidence of it."

Archer had heard this on the Bridge, Trip could tell, by him looking up something on his computer and chuckling ever so slightly. He glanced back to T'Pol as she finished speaking. "Right. Trip, go ahead and get started on the visuals."

Trip nodded and began to walk out, T'Pol right behind him. Archer spoke up again. "T'Pol, would you hang back?"

Trip and T'Pol exchanged a glance. In her mind, she knew that Trip was working his own mind and trying to find an excuse to get her out of a talk with Captain Archer.

They both knew what the conversation was about. She shook her head in a soft motion that she hoped Archer would miss, and Trip caught the signal. "I'll get to work again on that. I'll be in the observation room if you need me."

He took one last glance and left.

T'Pol turned back to the captain.

"Is there something on your mind, Commander?" he asked, slightly putting emphasis on her rank. Archer probably thought as Trip had a week after her mother's death: that her "emotions" were getting the better of her.

In her usual stoic way, she replied, "No."

"Are you sure?" he pressed. "You're always missing movie night. Sometimes you miss dinner with me and Trip and you sneak into the mess hall to eat after everyone else has gone to bed."

T'Pol's eyes widened. "How are you aware of this?"

"Let's just say, someone is worried about you and has been keeping tabs on you."

T'Pol narrowed her eyes and tried to appear emotionless, yet she didn't succeed as she slightly groaned. "How long has Commander Tucker been following me around?"

"From what he's told me, since your mother died. But he's not stalking you, he's just worried."

T'Pol sighed and wished she would just disappear. "My whereabouts," she informed him, "are none of his business."

"Look, don't go blaming Trip and getting all mad on us," he said. T'Pol silently thought the latter statement was an overstatement but said nothing. "I think it's warranted. I know you've been a little emotional since the Expanse. But when your mother died, you shut everything up inside and buried yourself in the _Kir'Shara_. I understand what it means to Vulcan, but it's not worth loosing everything else."

"Meaning?"

"Do you remember how Trip got after he lost his sister?"

T'Pol tried to shrug it off by saying, "That is an illogical comparison. He is not Vulcan. He is human."

"You're right. And he's a very strong willed human. But despite that, he nearly went crazy. If it hadn't been for you, he would have lost it. Now, the same thing is happening to you. I have a feeling that if you don't let Trip help you, it's not going to be a happy ending."

T'Pol stood silent after he spoke. She appeared to be thinking it over, but just as quickly she asked, "Is that all, sir?"

Archer groaned, frustrated, yet he nodded her out.

T'Pol turned and went out the door.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

Trip was still on the Bridge when T'Pol exited, and she looked green with rage. He glanced after her. She looked like she was going crazy.

And as she entered the turbolift, she glared at him and looked like she wished he would die.

The doors slid shut; Trip turned back to his station as Archer came out of his ready room. "Travis, take us back in. Warp three."

"Aye, sir." The helmsman turned the cruising ship around and flew back towards the nebula.

"And remember, this doesn't work if we get within 8000 kilometers of the anomaly," Trip reminded the helmsman.

"I'll drop out of warp well by then, believe me, Commander."

Trip slightly smiled, and Archer could tell something was wrong. He glanced around the Bridge and noticed that the science officer was no where to be found.

Archer walked behind Reed to the engineering station. "Trip?" he quietly asked.

The chief engineer swiveled in his seat. "Yeah?"

"Something wrong?"

Trip made an excuse for the Bridge crew to hear. "I think something is going on in Engineering." He shrugged. "Mind if I go down there?"

Archer nodded, leaned in closer to his ear, and said, "Go get her."

Trip made a quick dash for the turbolift and left the Bridge behind.

He searched every possible hiding place he could think of; first was her quarters and she wasn't there. The mess hall; there wasn't even the smell of chamomile tea in the air. He even checked in the captain's mess; but still didn't find her. Finally, his physical strength caught up with the mental determination and he gave in just outside of the lower entrance of Cargo Bay One.

He propped his hands on his thighs, taut from nearly running around the ship to find T'Pol. He began to wonder if an extra session in the ship's gym was in order but his thoughts were disrupted by noise inside the cargo bay.

Assuming a mindset similar to Malcolm's and Phlox, he cautiously entered. A mantra combined with a saying characteristic of both officers chanted through Trip's mind: Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

He left the door open behind him, just in case a quick escape was necessary, and began to examine the contents from the balcony. He made it as far as the railing before he heard a voice that made him wish he had closed the door.

"Is there something wrong, Commander?" the always quirky doctor Phlox asked him, staying in the corridor.

Trip turned around. "Hey, Doc." He turned back around to the railing and put his hands on it for support.

Phlox walked in towards him. "I realize that I'm only a doctor, but you seem a little despondent."

Trip continued his visual scans in silence.

Phlox shrugged. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Normally, the engineer would have gone and talked with T'Pol first, but seeing as how she was hiding from him and Phlox understood the situation partially, he looked back at the Denobulan and nodded.

"It's T'Pol."

Phlox stopped walking next to Trip. "Has she been having problems lately?"

"Yeah, mainly me." The engineer sighed and he had run out of places to look and ways to vent. "She's lost her mother, her husband left her unexpectedly, and she's been wrapped up in the Kir'Shara so much that I can't get her to say anything. I barely get a word in edgewise when I'm around her."

Trip took one final glance at the containers then looked at Phlox. "I know how it feels to lose someone close to me. Took me almost a year to get over Lizzie and move on. If T'Pol hadn't been here for me, I would've gone insane."

He gently bit his lip. "And then when Koss divorced her, I don't know. I guess I hoped there was something between us, but she got so wrapped up in reading the Kir'Shara instead. Said she had to do it on her own, she kept pushing me away . . ."

Quietly, Phlox interjected, "Commander, T'Pol is a unique individual. And you helped her to become like that. But right now, she is learning what it really means to be herself, to be a Vulcan. And that's a point that she will always be farther from than closer to."

Trip looked at him, slightly skeptical about Phlox's words. He sighed. "Ah, you're right. And I admit, I probably did push her a bit too much about talking. But she's been pushing me away so much that I don't even know if the effort is worth it." He moaned. "I love her, Doc."

Phlox nodded. "I think most people on this ship know that, Mr. Tucker."

"Yeah. But she hasn't even said anything about us. About whether there will be an 'us' after she gets done with this."

The doctor chuckled. "Well, keep in mind that it took a little prodding to get you to do neuro-pressure, eh? Give T'Pol time. Eventually, I think she'll open up to you about everything."

"What don't I already know?" Trip asked with a glint of humor in his eye.

Phlox smiled for a brief moment, turned and left.

Trip balanced himself on the rail again. "Better get back to work," he said quietly, turning and following Phlox's motion.

Behind a box that toppled earlier as Trip came in, T'Pol wrapped her arms around herself, nearly shocking herself. She had heard Trip's words. She had heard him say "I love you" and the emotions it lit in her scared her.

She lowered her head onto her arms. Perhaps she really was a fool.

She didn't need time. She needed Trip.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

Mirror universes were beginning to confuse Trip Tucker; besides the occasional engineering glitch and T'Pol, nothing much did.

He stood in the observation lounge, filing the visual images he was receiving. Captain Archer had asked him to review the visuals they were getting for the undercover mission; after all, Tucker figured the voice inflections were just about the same. The others might notice if someone was missing a scar or something. From what he could tell, they were in full abundance.

The doors moved aside and T'Pol stepped in. Trip silently groaned, hoping that T'Pol wouldn't hear him. In spite of her exceptional hearing, he was positive that she wouldn't hear him. But somehow, she did.

"Is something wrong?"

"Nah," he said, turning around from looking at the screen. He glanced at T'Pol for one moment, and then turned back around before he got any more ideas. "Everything pretty much seems the same, except for one noticeable difference."

T'Pol was studying a console of her own, yet she looked up.

Trip slightly smirked. "Well, whenever the other 'me' is in my quarters, I'm wearing a wedding ring, but secretively. Like I don't let other people see it."

"Meaning?"

"Ah, come on. It just means that—"

"Our counterparts in this universe married. It doesn't imply—"

"Never mind," he said abruptly, whirling back around to his console. "After all, I may not be married to you. Or your other counterpart person," he said, almost fumbling for the words.

"Are there any noticeable differences with other members of the crew," she asked, almost coldly, "or have you been fixating on yourself all this time?"

"_Why are you being so stubborn?_" he asked, emphasizing the words and looking at her.

T'Pol appeared almost insulted – something he hadn't been trying to do and he felt a twinge of guilt. "I wasn't trying to."

Trip bristled, frowned, and turned back to his console. "Never mind."

"Trip . . ."

Memories flooded his mind, but oddly he wasn't thinking it. All the things that he was seeing, all the memories of things that had happened between them . . . some were down right shocking. He saw a visual of one time when he had missed two neuro-pressure sessions in a row and he tried to get back into her good graces by giving her peaches. He mentioned something about not having a shower and it brought an image of him in the shower. He hadn't been thinking that . . . he could almost imagine T'Pol thinking it. It was almost like she was projecting onto him in some weird way.

He shook it off inside, replying, "T'Pol, I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to gripe at you. It's just . . . you haven't been acting like yourself lately. I mean, I know you finished reading the Kir'Shara but it's like nothing else has settled yet." He set his console to record the video feed from the other _Enterprise_ and walked over to T'Pol. "I know you're probably going to be a bit stubborn and say that you're fine, but do you need to talk?"

T'Pol looked shaken, more so than he had ever seen her. Trip stood two feet away from her as he gripped her shoulders gently. "Hey, you okay?" he quietly prodded.

She shook her head, and then glanced up to him. "I don't know."

Trip stood motionless, dropping his hands to his sides, as she began to speak. "When I finished reading, I discerned that there were many things revealed in the _Kir'Shara_ that will be beneficial in a typical Vulcan's life."

Trip looked lower and then raised his head as he closed the distance in between them. "And you aren't a typical Vulcan."

"Nonetheless, I need to discern how to use this information in my life. But even though it is a better way of living by the true knowledge of Surak, I'm still having difficulty controlling my emotions. And I doubt that I ever will completely."

Trip looked her over. "You know I want to help you. And I'll help you with this however I can."

"I appreciate that. But right now, I'm still adjusting." In a purely un-Vulcan move, she raised her hand to his cheek. "Soon."

"So that means . . . that you . . . you still?"

"Yes."

Trip breathed a sigh of relief and knew now that everything he had fretted about was worth it. He knew that she loved him. She still loved him.

Just like he did always.

"That's all I need to know," he said, reaching up for her hand and bringing it down. They looked at their entwined hands, and he sensed that she was comfortable. It was something she hadn't been for a while, Trip had a feeling. "I gotta get back to work. But can I meet you later, just to talk more?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "I need to report back to the Bridge."

Trip nodded, and then broke off from her. "Then you'll need this. These are basic differences between the senior staff, visually. I have a feeling the captain's gonna need this."

"I'll be sure to mention your wedding ring," she said with a slight glint of humor.

Trip cocked his head. "Ya don't have to do that."

"I'm sure the expression it would illicit from Captain Archer would be worth it."

"Only if I was there. With my camera."

T'Pol gave him one last look and walked away.

Trip went back to his work with a new vigor. Now he knew that everything he had tried on _Enterprise_ was worth it. He knew that someday soon, T'Pol would be his. She would be there for him, just as he wanted to be.

And sometime soon, he would ask T'Pol about this weird notion in his head that he was telepathic.

* * *

><p>In the situation room, Jonathan Archer was gathering his senior officers from the turbolift as they exited. Trip was the last to arrive and he settled in comfortably – Archer personally thought a bit too comfortably – next to T'Pol, waiting for her to begin the briefing.<p>

Her hands went to the console. "There are noticeable differences between the senior crew. Captain Archer," she said, pulling his picture, "has a scar running down one cheek and—"

"I think we get the picture," Archer said, a bit of a pun, and the senior staff eased a bit with the exception of Malcolm Reed.

Even T'Pol eased as she continued. "The most noticeable is Lieutenant Reed. He has a dark goatee and a tendency to carry weapons on his person in hidden positions."

"Not much of a change," Reed mentioned off-handed.

Trip chuckled and looked at T'Pol, almost pleadingly.

"Commander Tucker has no physical differences, except for a slight limp," she said in response.

Archer frowned as Tucker eased. _There was definitely something up between those two_, he thought to himself.

"Ensign Sato has one notable difference. She wears her hair long and is extremely flirtatious."

Hoshi replied immediately. "Captain, please don't put me on the away team."

The officers chuckled slightly. Archer was having a hard time trying to restrain himself, yet he said, "Sorry, Ensign, but you might be needed. Next?"

The officers remaining looked expectantly at T'Pol as she spoke. "Dr. Phlox and Ensign Mayweather haven't been seen. I believe it is a safe assumption that, due to the hostility that was shown to the Vulcans during First Contact, Denobulans never entered the Interspecies Medical Exchange. As a result, Phlox never came on _Enterprise_."

"What about me?" Travis queried.

T'Pol looked at him. "I believe that you were never born."

"Well, that just brightened up my whole day," Travis muttered underneath his breath.

Trip chuckled. "And I know what's up with me."

"I have a question, sir." Hoshi crossed her arms. "If humans were showing hostility to the Vulcans at first contact, then why is T'Pol aboard the other _Enterprise_?"

Trip looked at T'Pol out of the corner of his eye. She glanced to the console. "I don't know."

Archer began getting worried. In the four years he had known her, she wasn't sure if T'Pol had ever said that. So he figured he would use that to his advantage. "Then, I propose that T'Pol be sent over on a recon mission."

"Captain," she said in slight desperation.

"You can access their computer banks, find out everything. Emotional differences between humans can be different to the extreme. I would assume they aren't that different between Vulcans."

T'Pol nodded. "I need to look closer at some imagery before I transport over."

Archer nodded. T'Pol took off from the Bridge like a speeding bullet, and Trip looked worried. He glanced around and Archer held his gaze and nodded at him. Trip ran off the Bridge too, catching the turbolift before T'Pol had a chance to close the door.

The captain dismissed the rest of the senior staff; then acknowledged that those two were so stubborn, so thick-headed, and so right for each other, Archer realized with a sudden pang of worry.

He narrowed his eyes and walked back to his ready room. He just had to figure out a way to make this all work. He had to figure out how to stay out of their business.

He shrugged it off. There was a reason Starfleet had a no fraternization rule, and he would leave it alone until it got to be an overwhelming problem. Unfortunately, he reflected, that might be too soon.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

As Tucker walked away from the turbolift, heading to the captain's quarters, he saw a barely clad Hoshi Sato slightly sulking away from the general direction. She scowled at Trip and bypassed him without any regard. He didn't care; he wasn't in the mood for trouble.

In all honesty, the engineer had a fleeting suspicion about the captain and the communication officer. However, he realized, voicing this opinion was a death sentence. He compared it to the private knowledge of his marriage to T'Pol, realizing it carried the sentence as well, and stopped in his tracks. _Nah_, he thought. _I gotta stop thinking about this. I gotta stop thinking about a lot of things._ He shook his head, clearing the thoughts.

He stood at the captain's doors for a second, and then rang the chime. Archer replied, "Come."

Trip entered.

Archer was sitting at his desk, reading a report. He didn't glance up at Trip, but assuming his presence, asked, "How's Travis?"

"In a lot better condition than our tactical officer assumes. That transporter trick worked pretty well – for now," Trip said, slightly shrugging.

Archer chuckled mirthlessly. "Hmm. Well. Maybe a few days in Cargo Bay One without atmosphere controls will do him some good."

Trip cleared his throat. Right now, he knew that Cargo Bay One's temperature was about freezing. "So . . . did you need something?"

"No, but you do."

Trip arched his brow. "What would that be?"

Archer stood, walked to his cabinet, and pulled out two glasses and a bottle of brown fluid. "You need a belt."

Trip smiled the most he had for quite some time. "Welcome back."

* * *

><p>"And then, he jumped up in the air, ranting and raving like an idiot, and he said, 'I don't need you, I just want the beer!' And he collapsed on the table!"<p>

Archer laughed along with his friend as Trip recanted a previous drinking binge. He leaned back and slightly groaned. "Oh, I think we're both drunk."

"Yeah. Anybody in mind for a prank while we can get away with it?"

The captain's mind began wandering through possibilities. "Well, there is one thing. A certain bridge officer has an annoying facial hair problem."

Trip smiled grimly. "I know who you're talking about. I'm just worried he might shoot us after the deed. He'd be justified."

Archer and Tucker regarded each other in silence for a few moments, contemplating whether or not the joke was worth the consequences.

In sync, they spoke. "I'll get the razor." "I'll get the straps."

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, Malcolm Reed awoke in a most unusual position.<p>

He was strapped to the bunk in his quarters. Archer and Tucker were standing above him; Archer was slightly grinning and Tucker was standing guard by the door. "Lieutenant."

The captain was cynical – and Malcolm was worried for his own safety. "What happened?"

"Well, when I was trying to sleep last night, I thought of something that would make me feel better."

"Sir?"

"All right, Reed, I'll come out. That goatee is the most annoying thing on this ship."

Tucker smirked and didn't try to hide it.

Archer glanced at the razor resting on the desk.

Reed quickly realized what was happening.

"Oh, dear God!"

* * *

><p>The next morning, Reed arrived on the Bridge and Archer made a mental note to humiliate him the next chance he got. Tucker was sitting at his station and glanced to the captain. The helmsman looked up. "Lieutenant," he said, talking to Malcolm, the only person on the Bridge by that rank, "what happened to your goatee?"<p>

Archer sat back in his chair and relaxed. _Maybe this kid was better than Travis, _he thought to himself_. He's doing my handiwork without realizing it._

Reed had two options; one was tell the truth and face punishment from the captain and two was make an excuse.

Or option three: he pulled back his fist and extended it.

At his station, Trip winced. The kid never had a chance.

He was lying on the floor in less than a second. Reed only shrugged. "None of his business."

The others on the Bridge only looked for a second and then went back to their work. None of them were looking for a black eye. Two security guards came and removed the helmsman's unconscious form from the Bridge. They were taking him to Sickbay, and Archer couldn't think of a good reason why. Whenever he was a kid and picked a fight with the wrong person, all he got was an icepack.

Archer shrugged mentally. This kid was good, but he didn't deserve a spa treatment.

"Lieutenant."

Reed looked up, not even cowering. "Sir."

"Call your men. Tell them to take Parsons to Cargo Bay One."

Reed showed his trademark smirk. "With pleasure."

While he busied himself in that, the Vulcan checked a display and appeared slightly concerned. Archer wondered if the interrogations were getting through to her. "Captain. I'm detecting nebulae along our present course."

The captain sighed softly. _Oh, well. We might as well do some exploring while we're out here._ "What's our ETA?"

"Two hours."

"Anything interesting about it?"

"I'm detecting a subspace anomaly," T'Pol answered. "It appears to be stable. I believe that subspace anomalies are capable of providing transportation to alternate realities."

_Alternate realities, hmm?_ Archer nodded. "Set course, Ensign. Present speed."

The new ensign at the helm nodded and adjusted exactly so. Apparently, she wasn't in the mood for a beating.

Neither was he. After Reed's last incident, he had been massaging his hand. Apparently, he wasn't as tough as he seemed.

Trip scooted his chair around to face Malcolm. "Hey, Malcolm. How's the manicure?"

Reed scowled, but didn't act. Trip slightly chuckled and walked to the turbolift. "I've gotta few things to check in Engineering. I'll check in later."

Archer didn't reply; his mind was swarmed with possibilities. If the Vulcan was right, if this anomaly would be able to move them between realities, then maybe he could do some damage on other people's lives. Or maybe, just to show T'Pol his good side, he'd be lenient.

_Lenient?_ No. That wasn't Archer, not at all.

_Good side?_ No. Archer didn't have one.

At least, not one that he knew about.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

For some reason, Trip couldn't bring himself to look at T'Pol. She was standing next to him, fairly close to him in the turbolift, and she seemed to find the wall more interesting than Trip.

He quietly groaned.

She turned and looked at him. "Is there something wrong?"

Trip stared at the wall. "I'm okay. Just a little worried about the captain."

"Captain Archer doesn't appear ill."

"That's not what I meant," he said, turning around. He ran his hand through his hair. "Aw, never mind. Lousy excuse."

"What's wrong, Trip?"

Anytime she used his nickname, instead of calling him by his rank or last name, sometimes it sent chills down his spine. He sighed again. "Honestly, I'm just worried about you."

"What for?"

"You just rushed off the Bridge after the captain asked you to do recon."

"I was being truthful. I still have some visuals to memorize. I also need a change of uniform."

"Tell you what, I'll go talk to the quartermaster and you take care of the visuals."

T'Pol nodded in agreement. "I believe that will work to our benefit. When I beam over—"

"Whoa," Trip said, "hold on. What's this about beaming over?"

"Their shuttlepods are accounted for. My counterpart is on the ship. I need to be transported directly into my counterpart's quarters."

"I have a feeling that can be arranged."

"Good."

"Anything else you want to tell me, while we're at it?" Trip said, slightly joking.

T'Pol caught on and played along. "I need you—"

"I knew it," he muttered under his breath.

T'Pol glared at him as they exited the turbolift. "—to keep a lock on me at all times and to man the transporter constantly."

"You got it. Anything else?"

She paused walking. "I believe that is all for now."

"I'll meet you in the observation room in half an hour or so."

"I will be ready to go."

With that, they nodded and separated, going in opposite directions. However, neither of them knew that as soon as the other rounded a corner out of sight, they stopped and sulked against a bulkhead. Both of them were unsure of what the immediate future would bring. And both were worried to death.

* * *

><p>As promised, Trip met T'Pol as she walked out of the observation room. "Ha, caught you," he teased.<p>

She ignored the statement. "Did you find a . . . an accurate outfit?"

Trip held out the garment bag as they walked. "Yep. But I can't say anything as to its form."

"I believe that you, of all people on this ship, took care to cut it as you saw fit."

"I'm not sure whether that was a complement or a joke."

"Neither. It was a fact."

Trip nodded. "Yeah, right."

She stopped walking outside a door, and Trip realized rather awkwardly that he had walked with her right to her quarters and thought nothing of it. "Allow me a few minutes to change and I would appreciate it if you . . . guard me on the way to the transporter."

He nodded. "You bet."

She took the bag and went inside.

Trip stood guard outside, and two minutes later she opened the door again.

He was slightly aghast. The outfit fit better than he thought it would. It was gray with tints of green, low cut at the knees, but a thin layer of blue fabric extended downwards for a few inches. The tips of the sleeves extended to her elbows, and the same slight material covered her arms.

All in all, she was beautiful.

And all Trip could do was stare like an idiot.

T'Pol looked at her outfit and back up to Trip. "I believe you've surpassed yourself, Commander."

He shrugged good-naturedly. "I think I was a fashion designer in another life." Then, feeling protective, he asked, "Shall we?" and motioned to the empty corridor.

Trip walked in front of her; T'Pol was slightly hanging back while he checked the corridors. After what seemed a lifetime, they reached the turbolift. He opened the door and let her quickly step in, and after one last check he stepped in.

Trip sighed, and then pressed the button for the transporter while T'Pol slightly shivered. Looking concerned, he asked, "You okay?"

Inwardly, he was bracing for a stubborn reply, but for some reason she answered, "This outfit clearly isn't designed for comfort."

"Cold?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"Well then, that just gives you all the more reason to hurry up and get back here."

"Along with your undying concern for me to return?" she asked, almost jokingly as she raised her eyebrows.

Trip grinned. "Something like that."

T'Pol took one step forward towards him. "Trip. I'll be fine."

"I know," he answered in the most serious and reassuring tone he could give himself.

The doors opened and T'Pol skidded behind him again. Trip checked, allowed two passing crewmen to walk on by, and then led her out into the corridors. He took the shortest route that he could to the empty transport platform; T'Pol had requested that no one else be present, given her current uniform.

Also, because of her current uniform, they realized that they didn't really have time to say good-bye, be careful, or any of the things that were on Trip's mind. "So," he said, shuffling his feet at the controls.

T'Pol took one step to him, stood up slightly, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. When she stepped back, Trip looked reassured. Or as much as he could muster.

"I may be in need of emergency beam-out," she said.

Trip completed the thought. "I'll be here."

With one last look, she stepped up on the platform and said, "Energize."

He had no idea what awaited the woman he loved on the other side. And as she dissolved, so did Trip's heart.

* * *

><p>As T'Pol appeared in her counterpart's quarters, she braced herself. She didn't know if this T'Pol was in her quarters. She didn't know if anyone else was, either. And then the doors opened. Quickly, T'Pol retreated to the closet.<p>

She breathed a quiet sigh of relief. It was T'Pol. From what she could tell, this T'Pol didn't seem too inclined to violence. And neither did T'Pol.

She watched her counterpart sit down at her desk. As interesting as this was, T'Pol needed to switch soon. But she picked a file off her computer, loaded it to a padd, and began to rise again.

T'Pol made her move. From the closet, she mocked the call of a sehlat. It was sure to worry any Vulcan, regardless. From her seat, she quickly moved to the door, past the closet—

-Just as T'Pol's hand snaked out with a hidden hypospray to touch her neck. Phlox said that judging from this T'Pol having the same body mass, albeit not much, as T'Pol, it would effectively render her unconscious for five hours. And that was what she needed, perhaps more. She hid her counterpart in the closet, exactly where T'Pol had been hiding only a few seconds earlier.

T'Pol picked the padd up off the floor, reviewed the material, and assumed it was needed on the Bridge. And now remembering this Archer's personality and what he did to those whom were late, she straightened her outfit and exited the quarters.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

Archer watched the turbolift as the Vulcan exited. He was about to chastise her for being late, but she had changed her outfit and it was much more appealing.

At the Engineering station, Tucker didn't even look up. Archer smiled inwardly. _Good. She hasn't been getting through to him._

Instead, she handed him the padd. "I apologize for my tardiness, Captain."

"Not a problem . . . T'Pol."

She didn't seem to notice the inflection he was putting on it; she took her station and went back to her scans.

Archer only smiled. There was something going on, in the deep chasms of her Vulcan mind, and whatever it was, it had to be good if it was inciting her to wear – frankly, something Hoshi wouldn't have thought of wearing.

But then again, Hoshi was never big on clothing.

Yeah, there was something going on. And he fully intended on finding it out.

* * *

><p>On the Bridge, Malcolm Reed was stroking his chin, reminiscent of his missing goatee. He had done a double-take, covertly, when T'Pol came on the Bridge. He had noticed the same thing as Archer: her new dress.<p>

Hmm, he quietly wondered. Perhaps there was a reason why she had begun dressing more serenely, more sensually.

It couldn't be that she was chasing a man. After all, the captain, no less the tactical officer, would know if she was associating with anyone on this ship. Even though the captain had made a point of no-fraternization with the Vulcan, Malcolm thought perhaps he might pay her a visit. Late night, she would be dressed even less.

Inside his head, Malcolm repressed a menacing smile and returned to his work.

* * *

><p>On <em>Enterprise<em>, Trip couldn't have been pried away from the transporter console if the entirety of MACOs onboard tried.

T'Pol had been gone for only half an hour. He didn't expect her to return to the ship with all the data she needed in that amount of time; she had to blend in and was probably on duty.

And waiting was no less difficult the more time that went by. It constituted torture.

At least, for him.

Around the corner, he saw Captain Archer pass a padd to a crewman and walk towards him. "Any word yet?"

Trip could only shake his head. "Nothing so far."

Archer nodded at him. "Let me know when she contacts you."

Under his breath, "Ya bet I will," and just as Archer was about to walk off down the corridor, he stopped and looked at Trip.

"Commander?"

_Busted. I should've kept my mouth shut._

Trip turned his face for a second, and then said, "You remember when I wanted that transfer to _Columbia_? And I refused to tell you why?"

Archer's face narrowed. "Yeah?"

"It was because of T'Pol. At the time, I couldn't focus on work and her without letting her get the better of me. I'm sorry, but that's the way it was."

"And what happened after our warp engines were sabotaged? When you came back?"

"I made Captain Hernandez see that someone on board _Enterprise_ was vital to my well-being. She let me come back," he said with a shrug. "I got their engines running. She didn't really care after that."

In truth, she and Trip had a long disagreement over dinner about whether or not he should return to his ship. But he chose not to mention this.

"So I came back to _Enterprise_. For pretty much the same excuse I had the first time around. I was the only one capable of fixing the engines after they got screwed with. And I need T'Pol," he said quietly, glancing to the platform that he was waiting for her to reappear on. "More than ever."

Archer could have been knocked over with a feather. In all the years he had known Trip what he had just said was the most sincere thing he had ever heard him say.

He couldn't think of anything to say that would top that. Instead, Archer just put a hand on Trip's shoulder, trying to reassure him. "Don't worry, she'll be back soon. She'll be okay."

Trip nodded. And instantly after, his attention was back on the console, awaiting her call.

Archer rounded the opposite corner and sunk against a wall for a moment, his earlier thoughts about no-fraternization back in his mind. Based on what Trip had just said, he would leave well enough alone. It had gotten to be a problem earlier and it skipped over his mind, Trip making the excuse for leaving and all. But with his devotion to T'Pol, Archer would hate himself if he broke it up.

So he cleaned the thoughts out of his mind, straightened, and walked back down the corridor like nothing had happened.

* * *

><p>T'Pol entered her quarters after a shift. For some reason, Archer had dismissed her early. She didn't mind; it gave her more time to gather data from the computer banks. Humans had an expression, "A picture is worth a thousand words." When it came to their counterpart's personalities, she had much writing to do.<p>

She glanced at the chronometer. She assumed Trip – this Trip – would be off duty soon. He would probably swing by her quarters, given the secret wedding band that her Trip had found in the photos. She took a moment to glance around her counterpart's quarters. They were spartanly decorated, much less than her own.

And then the chime rang. Knowing the circumstances of who was standing outside but, being considerate that whoever it was might be suspicious of a hasty greeting, she replied, "Come in."

There was Trip Tucker. He slanted against the wall by the door, glancing at her. "What's up with the dress change earlier?"

She knew he would notice, even though he didn't directly look at her on the Bridge. "I spilled . . . tea on myself, this morning. I've been clumsy as of late."

"Clumsy is one thing I would've never pegged you for," Trip said, pushing himself up. Walking towards her, almost shyly, he asked, "Did you forget?"

T'Pol's mind began running with possibilities. "I'm sorry. I've been preoccupied today."

"It's okay. Let me refresh your memory." He nodded at the bed. "One year ago today, I proposed to you. And then I nearly lost my head when I whisked you off to Earth and got married the next day. Remember now?" he said with his little quirky grin.

"It's hard to forget something," T'Pol said, choosing her words carefully, not knowing the exact details, "that changes your life for the better."

Trip smiled at her. For some reason, his smile was even more disarming to her than her Trip's smile was. "Thanks," he said, closing the gap in between them. Right as the comm rang.

"Bridge to T'Pol."

Trip kept deathly silent. T'Pol knew if he didn't that it might be his end. "Go ahead, Captain."

"Have you seen Commander Tucker anywhere?"

"The last time I saw him he was walking the corridors on E-deck. I didn't stop to enquire of what he was doing."

"Good girl. Archer out."

As she shut off the comm, Trip bristled. "If I wouldn't get killed for it, I'd stroll right up there and knock his daylights out. 'Good girl,' what's that all about?"

"Apparently, the captain believes that he is exempt from the no-fraternization rule regarding me."

"Has he been making passes at you?"

"Trip . . ." she said, stroking his cheek. "I'm fine. Honestly."

He sighed then cocked his head. "My T'Pol. My t'hai'la." He stooped and gave her what started to be a gentle kiss. He started probing deeper, but T'Pol stopped him, although she was reciprocating.

"If the captain is looking for you and can't find you on E-deck," she got out in gasps, "he may scan for your bio-signs."

"Yeah. I hate this life somedays."

"As do I."

He gave her one last kiss. T'Pol reciprocated yet again. Trip started walking to the door, paused, and circled around. "One of these days, we're gonna have a normal life. Where it is, I don't know. But I promise you, one of these days, no more sneaking around. We can be more open."

"One of these days."

Trip took one more look at T'Pol, and then left.


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

T'Pol was actually amazed at how much this universe's Trip Tucker was like her own.

He was first officer of this _Enterprise_. In spite of his loyalty to the captain, he was still compassionate to some, especially to his T'Pol. He was repeatedly risking his life just to see her, to be with her for a few seconds.

After he had left her quarters, she stood quaking for a brief two seconds. The kiss he had given her was powerful and frightening, even though it only lasted a brief moment. He had whispered a word that surprised her.

_T'hai'la._

Beloved.

Right then and there, it all came together. Everything that was connected to this alternate timeline, and especially between her and Trip.

It had been four and a half hours. More than enough time to gather information and knowing Trip as she did, he would be getting worried. She reached for her hidden communicator. "T'Pol to Tucker."

He responded. "Go ahead."

She paused and reconsidered. "Prepare for beam-out." There was one last thing she had to do.

"Understood."

T'Pol laid her communicator on the desk and walked to the closet. This T'Pol would awake in half an hour's time. She dragged her out, laid her on the bed, and folded her arms over. She was unsure how she went to sleep, but she based it on herself. Making sure she was still unconscious, she went back and got the communicator.

"One to beam out."

She dematerialized from the alternate quarters for the last time, and then after a few extra seconds she reappeared. She saw Trip – her Trip – looking up at her, slightly frowning while she didn't move off the platform.

"T'Pol? What's wrong?" he said, walking around the controls to her.

A million things were literally going through T'Pol's mind, but she chose the relevant topic and spoke. "I've discovered numerous differences to add to the report. We should meet with the rest of the senior staff if the captain is still interested in conducting recon missions."

Trip slightly smiled as T'Pol matched her footing. "You wanna change first?" he asked as they both glanced at her outfit. It had helped her to blend in on her recon mission; now, the only thing it helped was Trip's imagination.

She nodded. "Can you walk in front of me?"

Nodding understandingly, Trip glanced down the corridors to check for passing crewmen. He quickly thought of the quickest route to her quarters.

"Come on."

She followed him willingly as he shielded her from other crewmen. T'Pol dashed into the turbolift and Trip made sure no one else was coming before he stepped in. He pressed the button for B-deck. "So what was different?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"Mostly, the vocal algorithms and inflections in the crew's manner of speaking."

"What about me?" Trip asked, barely loud enough to be heard. "Us."

"T'Pol is treated like an invalid by everyone – except you," she said.

Trip's attention was solely on her, until the turbolift halted and the doors opened to B-deck. "Hang on a sec," he said, looking to make sure there wasn't anyone lurking. When he was certain, he motioned for T'Pol to follow. She walked closely behind him to her quarters. She slipped in and Trip waited by the door. "I'll stand guard. And I'll make sure the senior staff is waiting on you."

Some days, T'Pol reflected, Trip lived up to another definition of his nickname. Some days, like today, Trip's actions only reminded her of why she had fallen in love with him.

She lifted her face. "Trip."

He turned around towards her.

In a graceful move, she left another kiss on his cheek. "Thank you," she said quietly. She retreated into her quarters, leaving Trip slightly staring at her door and smiling like an idiot.

* * *

><p>Trip couldn't think for a moment, and when he regained his senses he pushed the button on the comm panel. He cleared his voice. "Tucker to the Bridge."<p>

Archer answered. "Go ahead."

"T'Pol just got back. Says she's got some information the senior staff is gonna want to hear."

"We're all here, with the exception of you two."

"We'll be there in a few minutes. Tucker out."

Just as he finished, T'Pol stepped back out of her quarters. Her blue outfit was a major difference to the short skirt and skin-displaying blouse that she had to wear while on the other _Enterprise_. And Trip found the normal outfits she wore much more attractive, even though some would have given up many things to see her in the outfit that she had just changed out of.

And Trip would punch everyone on board before that happened.

"The captain and the others are on the Bridge," he said.

T'Pol nodded, and then began walking to the turbolift. Trip settled in pace next to her, but before he could quietly ask if she had saved the outfit or thrown it in the recycler, she abruptly asked, "Do you wish to continue our conversation?"

_Oh, well. Her pajamas would settle._ "That depends. Do we have enough time?"

"I don't believe so."

_Was she playing games or what?_

"However, if you would stop by my quarters later this evening, I will explain everything in detail for you."

_Oh yeah, she was._ Trip hoped he would be able to discuss a few things on his mind, too.

They reached the turbolift. They paused, waiting as he called the turbolift, and then she began, "I believe it would be prudent not to try and initiate first contact with this alternate timeline."

_Oh, well. Back to business._ "Why's that?" he asked, folding his arms as they stepped inside.

"Captain Archer, in spite of his cynical mentality, expressed an interest about pursuing further opportunities for contact with subspace anomalies, such as the one we found. And I thought you might like to know that their scans never picked up _Enterprise's_ presence."

"Nice to know I'm not getting rusty in my work," Trip said.

T'Pol cast him a glance, and then assumed an expression as stoic as Trip had ever seen. True to his word, the senior staff was gathered in the situation room. Archer looked up and spoke first. "Commander, welcome back."

She nodded and then began her briefing. Trip watched her as she went over the subtle differences in the crew: first was Captain Archer's cynical mindset due to his hostility to Vulcans. "Although the crew respects him, I believe it is only due to fear for their lives, as Lieutenant Reed as at the beckon call of the captain."

Travis' torture made Trip shiver at the thought of emerging with frostbite. And apparently, it made Travis shiver as well. "I think maybe the original idea of never being born is more comforting to him."

Hoshi's sleazy appearance made the communications officer shiver, literally. T'Pol glanced at Hoshi, and said, "Apparently, you were in a relationship with the captain." In the second that followed, Trip swore he heard everyone breathing.

Hoshi glanced at Archer. "No offense, sir, but only in an alternate timeline."

Next on the briefing was Malcolm's goatee, which caused a shared smile to pass between Trip and Archer with the knowledge that if Reed ever did that on this ship, they would shave in a heartbeat, without the drunkenness.

Then when she got to herself, T'Pol braced herself. "T'Pol was held hostage by Captain Archer in response to a show of hostility on the Vulcans' part four years ago. In the time that followed since then, Captain Archer allowed her to put her expertise to work and she filled in occasionally as the science officer. After their incident with the Suliban, Captain Archer allowed her to work fulltime on the Bridge. Otherwise, T'Pol is treated like an invalid." She lowered her voice during the last few statements, and then raised it again for Phlox. "And my original assumption about Dr. Phlox was correct. He never came on board."

Archer considered pushing about Trip, but refrained. "Anything else about Commander Tucker?"

"Commander Tucker might have been a better candidate for the reconnaissance than me. There were virtually no differences."

Archer let it go. "Thank you, T'Pol. Dismissed."

The senior staff scattered back to their stations with the exception of the three ranking officers. T'Pol looked between them, then said, "If you don't mind, Captain, I believe a shower is in order."

"No offense, Commander, but permission granted. Personally, you reek."

T'Pol ignored the comment, walked to the turbolift, and left.

Trip glanced after her, and Archer at Trip. "So, Trip. Do you feel better now?"

The engineer smiled. "She's back on my ship, safe and sound. This is the best I've felt in a long time."


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

After her shower, T'Pol felt revived. But she wasn't sure if it was the grime washing away or the knowledge that soon, Trip would be ringing her door bell.

She glanced around her room and suddenly felt grateful that the captain had been as generous as he had, forgiving her when she made mistakes and fouled. She was grateful now that the captain had pleaded all her cases, when she faced leaving _Enterprise_.

And all along, Trip had helped. Surely the captain would understand.

She had just finished buttoning her pajama top and wrapping her robe around her when someone rang the bell.

"Come in."

Trip entered, wearing a pair of rumpled pants and a blue shirt. T'Pol would have never admitted it, but she liked it the best. It made his brilliant blue eyes stand out.

"So," he said. "Finish that conversation, hmm?"

T'Pol nodded. She couldn't think of a better way to spend her evening than with him.

And at present, she began to speak.

* * *

><p>On the alternate <em>Enterprise<em>, T'Pol had woken and surmised that he had hit her head on something. Lately she had been feeling clumsy, woozy, and now realized after reflecting on those terms that she had been married to Trip for too long.

She changed into night clothes but couldn't go to sleep. Something inside hurt – too much.

T'Pol selected another robe that wouldn't be considered as sensual. She went outside to the corridors and made her way to the turbolift, hoping that no one was inside.

Unfortunately, she noted in the first second as the door slid aside, someone was inside. Fortunately, it was Trip.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked as she stepped inside.

For the sake of listening ears, she said, "I'm not feeling well. I was just on my way to Sickbay."

"I'm on my way to Engineering. I'll walk you there."

"Your assistance is noted, Commander, but not needed."

Suddenly, she slipped to the floor of the turbolift.

Trip sunk down next to her. "Yeah, right. I'm helping you to Sickbay, whether you like it or not."

T'Pol nodded as he helped her back up.

The doors opened and they fortunately passed no one on their way to Sickbay. Inside, the female doctor, Dr. Coleman, looked at her. Besides Trip, she was the most sincere person on the ship.

"Commander Tucker. T'Pol. What seems to be the problem?"

"I believe that I've lost equilibrium."

"And she collapsed in the turbolift."

Coleman went over to get her medical scanner. Trip stood a reasonable distance away in case someone else came in. As she maneuvered it over T'Pol's torso and abdomen, her brown eyes widened. "This can't be."

Trip spoke first. "What?"

She shut her scanner, moved to put it away, and slowly approached. "I'm not sure how, but T'Pol, you're pregnant."

And then Trip exploded. "WHAT! How?"

T'Pol looked at him, not nearly as calm as she tried to be. "Calm down, Commander. The last time I visited Earth, a colleague of mine, a geneticist, was working on a way to combine Vulcan and human DNA. I volunteered to test the application, since I said I was not involved with anyone."

"But you can't hide this, T'Pol," Trip said groaning, moving closer. "The captain's gonna know that . . ."

Coleman raised her hand. "In case you two forgot, I'm the only one that knows."

"Sorry. But now the captain's gonna know that you're pregnant, and that one of the guys onboard is the father. And considering the stuff that Malcolm is working on, it won't take much for one of us to spill the beans."

"And if the captain gets wind of this," the doctor said.

"We're all dead," T'Pol interjected, "and so is our baby."


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

"After I transported aboard and rendered my counterpart unconscious, I headed for the Bridge."

Trip silently thought that T'Pol had an interested way of telling stories. They were sitting cross-legged across from each other in her quarters, both in off-duty clothes. Her meditation candles that the captain allowed for her sanity were all lit, and it cast little shadows here and there that otherwise would have distracted Trip. But at the time, he was listening to T'Pol recant her journey on the other _Enterprise_. He could have said the same with more action and less words, but he let her continue anyway.

"When I arrived on the Bridge, it was apparent that T'Pol was looked down on. Captain Archer said certain things that could be construed as harassment. Lieutenant Reed pretended not to notice my outfit."

"Don't tell me it was inappropriate," Trip said.

"Apparently, it was too attractive for some. I hid in her closet when I beamed over and noticed her outfits are more . . . conservative. But it did its job," she said, trying to make Trip feel better.

He smiled for only a second and motioned for her to keep going.

"By the time I arrived, the crew was already aware of the nebula and the subspace anomaly within. They had begun conducting scans and, as I mentioned to you earlier, _Enterprise_ wasn't detected." Trip imagined that in her mind, she was recalling the differences as she spoke and paused, but she continued. "Captain Archer said that perhaps there was a way for _Enterprise_ to fit through the anomaly. I believe he wanted to personally push the ship through."

Trip smiled at the thought. "Give me a little back history, so I understand everything. Let's start with First Contact. We figured that was the instrumental starting point. What happened?"

"When the Vulcans arrived, they had an unwelcome reception. Humans actually chased them back onto the ship with excessive force. After that, they didn't attempt another first contact until Henry Archer was working with Dr. Cochrane on the Warp Five Engine."

"More pushiness," Trip noted.

T'Pol concurred. "Much like the Vulcan High Command did in our reality, they interjected the idea that humans weren't ready for warp travel. Jonathan Archer was a child and he took it personally."

* * *

><p>In his ready room, Jonathan Archer was glancing back over T'Pol's report on a padd when Hoshi called through the comm. "Bridge to Captain Archer."<p>

"Go ahead, Hoshi."

"Sir, you have an incoming communication from Admiral Gardner. It's about the subspace anomaly."

"I'll take it in here. Archer out." He opened up his comm screen and Admiral Gardner appeared. Since the passing of Admiral Forrest, he and Gardner had talked frequently but lost a touch of comradeship.

"Admiral. What can I do for you?"

"I've been reviewing the data from this subspace anomaly that you've explored. Is there a possibility that further reconnaissance could be conducted?"

"I suppose."

"Ambassador Soval has been here. Apparently, the Vulcans want to know whether this poses a threat to them."

"Commander T'Pol just got back from recon. There didn't seem to be many differences."

"You're eluding me, Jon. Frankly, some of the folks back here want to know if the subspace anomaly can be closed up."

Again, Archer repeated with eyes narrowed, "I suppose."

"All right, here is what's going on. Starfleet wants further recon. The Vulcans want to consider the possibility that the people from this other universe could be hostile towards us." Gardner leaned forward on his desk. "What do you think?"

"I agree with T'Pol. She thinks we shouldn't push it. I respect her opinion and frankly, following her opinion has saved lives before. I don't think the circumstances are any different here."

"I figured you would. I'll try holding them off while you come up with something else. Gardner out." The image of his face vanished from his screen and he sighed, leaning back in his chair. Porthos walked over and jumped on his leg.

Archer slightly laughed. "What do you think?"

Porthos jumped back to the floor and pointed his snout at the cabinet which held the cheese.

"One more piece. One," he repeated. He stood up from his chair and walked over to the cabinet. As he reached in for Porthos' cheese, the chime rang.

"Come in."

Hoshi walked in, avoiding the fiasco with the cheese. "I don't suppose it was good news."

"Why?"

"You're feeding Porthos cheese."

Archer chuckled. "Thanks for the emphasis. Actually, I'm at a crossroads but with everyone off-duty they might be a little resentful if I called them."

Hoshi shrugged. "I'm not off-duty. What's wrong?"

As Porthos chugged down a piece of cheese, Archer walked back behind his desk and Hoshi sat. "Starfleet wants to know if further recon can be conducted. The Vulcans want to know if we can close the subspace anomaly."

"What's wrong with conducting recon?" Hoshi asked, slightly shrugging.

"You heard T'Pol. The other 'me' is cynical. She even said that I had Travis put in Cargo Bay One without the temperature at normal. Malcolm is gung-ho on weapons and torture. Personally, none of them sound like nice characters."

"What's wrong with closing the anomaly?"

"First we have to come up with a way to do it," Archer said, standing up again. He walked to the window, looked out into the gray matter, and sighed. "I'll tell Trip and the rest of the senior crew to meet in the mess hall. I need to contact Admiral Gardner again."

Hoshi stood up and slightly smiled. "You're welcome."

* * *

><p>"And so when my counterpart came to Earth with the Vulcan delegation, Captain Archer kidnapped me."<p>

Trip bit his lip. "And that's how you ended up on _Enterprise_. Still against your preference."

T'Pol nodded and was about to continue when another voice intruded into her quarters. "Archer to T'Pol."

T'Pol uncrossed her legs and stood to reach the comm. "T'Pol here."

"I realize you're off-duty, but could you meet me in the mess hall? I've made a decision about the subspace anomaly and Starfleet has approved it."

"On my way. T'Pol out."

She pressed the comm button again as Trip stood also. "I'm gonna assume he means the senior staff by that."

"Trip, I apologize."

"Not your fault," he said, shaking his head.

And then, "Archer to Tucker."

"The man's calling us individually? There's gotta be a better way to do this. Hit the comm for me, would ya? Yeah, go ahead, Captain."

"Could you meet me in the mess hall?"

"Does this include a beer, seeing as how late this is?"

"Maybe."

"Ya got it. Tucker out." Trip glanced at T'Pol. "Do ya wanna change?"

"I don't believe anyone will be offended by my appearance."

"Okay. And, we will get to finish this conversation?"

"One of these days."

Trip smiled, and then opened the door for her. He followed her to the turbolift, and shortly after arriving was joined by Travis Mayweather, yawning. Travis had been asleep in his quarters and was still yawning as he attempted to wake up.

"Any idea what this is about?" Travis asked.

Trip shook his head. "We'll find out when we get there."


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

Trip and T'Pol walked soberly away from Sickbay with a dreadful realization starting to take hold on his mind. He was going to be a father. Hopefully.

If the pregnancy went well, in another eight months T'Pol would give birth. At least, Dr. Erica Coleman had estimated that figure between Vulcan and human gestation periods. To the doctor's knowledge, there had never been a Vulcan-human baby born before. Not only had no one been able to successfully combine Vulcan and human genome, but a good many people were against alien/human children.

And then there was the crew on the ship. A few of them would shoot them on site if this information leaked out about her condition. One of which being Malcolm Reed, Trip made a special note in his mind to keep away from the tactical officer for the next few days.

T'Pol seemed unnerved as she walked back to the turbolift. "I should send a communiqué to Dr. Gregory and let her know that the application works."

"Your life and that of our baby is at stake and you're more worried about test results?" Trip said, clearly dismayed.

"Do you have a better idea?" T'Pol said, stopping in her tracks.

Trip gripped her arms and steered her to the turbolift. "I'm just sayin', maybe we should be thinkin' about the future right now."

He pressed the button and the turbolift opened. Pressing the button for B-deck, he turned around and faced her again. "I am thinking about the future, Trip," she replied as soon as he looked at her. "Many possibilities are present in my mind. However, most are not possible with our circumstances."

The doors opened and thankfully, no one was there. Trip and T'Pol sauntered casually down the corridor.

"Maybe we should consider leaving _Enterprise_," Trip whispered.

T'Pol turned and looked at him. "Why?"

"Because if we stay, our lives are in danger. Just sleep on it, okay?"

They had stopped walking outside her doorway. Trip nodded to the door with his head. "Night."

"Good night." She stepped inside and Trip walked away down the corridor towards his quarters, slightly shaking his head, wondering how he managed to marry such a stubborn woman.

Then again, after all, he was stubborn too.

* * *

><p>Around the corner, Malcolm Reed had been waiting for an opportunity to launch onto T'Pol's door and see if he could find out what was on her mind.<p>

When he saw Tucker and T'Pol walking casually around the corner, he nearly had a cardiac. He thought about the possibility of telling the captain, getting a long-deserved promotion, but the thought disintegrated when he saw no touches between the two people. He knew better than to tell Archer and not have any evidence.

Tucker motioned her inside and took off towards his cabin. Malcolm smirked. In his mind, he considered what he was about to do an interrogation and thought nothing else of it. Interpretation was closed; if anyone saw him it was none of their business.

And the sidearm and hidden weapons he always carried just proved it.

* * *

><p>Hoshi was already inside the mess hall with a cup of coffee when the majority of the senior staff arrived. She knew Travis had gone to sleep almost an hour ago; he was still trying to shake off the sleepiness under his eyes.<p>

Phlox was in Sickbay, and Hoshi didn't want to speculate about what he had been doing. But he came at the captain's call and made a cheery face. The communications officer silently wondered why he did that but stayed quiet.

Malcolm Reed had just put down _Ulysses_ when Archer called him, but he looked like he preferred to be reading it still instead of being present here.

Trip Tucker and T'Pol had walked in behind Travis. Tucker was jokingly pushing Travis into the mess hall. T'Pol raised her eyebrow at this, and Trip looked like he was about to explain it but she shook her head.

And oddly enough, even though he was the last person to call the meeting, Archer came in. He and Hoshi were the only ones still on-duty; all the others were either in off-duty clothes or pajamas.

He sat down at the head of one of the tables and allowed the assembled crew to gather drinks and sit as well. Hoshi sat down next to him. She had an inkling feeling of what was going on, and the seat she picked was closest to the door so she could pick up and leave after.

T'Pol got chamomile tea and sat down as well. Tucker, Reed, and Travis sat down in order from T'Pol around another table. Phlox got some weird concoction and sat down opposite Hoshi.

"I just got off with Admiral Gardner," the captain began. "Starfleet wants to investigate the anomaly more. The Vulcans want to close it up. I wanted your opinions before I decided. T'Pol?"

The senior staff looked at the Vulcan. Her fingers were wrapped around her cup as she replied, "I believe that is it dangerous to leave it open. Your counterpart had expressed an interest in exploring our universe. I support closing it."

Archer nodded in acknowledgement of her opinion. "Trip."

The chief engineer glanced at T'Pol. "Much as I hate to, I gotta agree with the Vulcans. We have no idea what could happen if we leave it open. And if we investigate more, we might discover something that, frankly, might not be so pretty." Trip shrugged, running out of words.

"Malcolm."

"I'm all for investigating, myself. We might find something that could be beneficial for us."

"Travis."

"With all due respect, I'm still asleep, sir. Can you ask someone else?"

Some of the crew smiled and Archer went on to Hoshi. "Any qualms, Hoshi?"

"I'm seeing this 50-50 right now. If we leave it open, they might come through and who knows what would happen. If we close it, how would we do it?"

The crew nodded with the exception of T'Pol. "I believe Commander Tucker is more than capable of finding a method."

Under his breath, Trip murmured, "Thanks for the complement," and the others slightly laughed.

Archer smiled. "Phlox?"

The doctor shrugged. "Personally, I support investigating. It's possible we could benefit after all."

Archer nodded and looked back to Travis, ready to ask him for his opinion. From the other table, Trip interrupted. "Why does something tell me you've already made a decision?"

Archer sighed, and he leaned back in his chair. Hoshi watched him. "I have. Or Starfleet has. They want us to close it up. T'Pol's report had quite a deal of influence with the brass. Trip, can you come up with a way to close the subspace anomaly?"

The corners of Trip's mouth turned upwards. "Thought you'd never ask. Yeah, I can whip up something, but can it wait till the morning? Personally, I'm also for some sleep."

The others nodded in agreement, including Hoshi. "I was off-duty five minutes ago. I think."

Archer smiled and nodded. "In the morning, I want everyone in the situation room. We'll run over more possibilities then. Dismissed."

The majority stood and walked out. Hoshi went to get rid of her drink when she overheard the captain talking to T'Pol. "Commander, can I assume you've smoothed over the rumpled feathers with Trip?"

Hoshi bit her lip. There was _definitely_ something going on between those two now; she was sure of it. She pretended not to hear anything as she nodded at them and walked to the door. But, just before the door slid shut, she heard T'Pol utter one word.

"Yes."

Hoshi fought to suppress a smile, but didn't succeed.

* * *

><p>T'Pol was standing in her quarters, examining her abdomen in front of her mirror in the bathroom. She expected her figure to bloat significantly in the next few months. In her mind, she knew Trip was right: they had to come up with something else, or their lives were in danger.<p>

Someone rang her bell. She wrapped her robe back around her, wondering why Trip would be at her door instead of not coming in with her earlier.

"Come in."

And she found Malcolm Reed standing before her, with a sly grin on his face. "Pardon me for intruding."

T'Pol wondered if the next few minutes would be her last.


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Jonathan Archer was lying on his bed and thought he heard rustling. It was a shame that Reed had used Porthos as a test subject of how quickly a person would freeze outside the airlock. He was mad at himself for not punishing Reed as a result.

Having Porthos in his quarters would have given him a reason for the rustling.

He pushed himself off the bed and went around to Porthos' cushion on the floor. He had never moved it; he liked it there. And on his not so good days, he liked having a little reminder of his beagle.

Archer tilted his head to the side. He wondered whether or not he should get another pet.

The door chimed. "Come."

The person who entered looked at him with a curious, innocent look. "What's wrong? Missing Porthos?"

On the other hand, he already had another pet.

"Hello, Hoshi."

Hoshi Sato slinked into his quarters. "What's wrong?" she repeated.

"Ah, feeling a little lonely tonight."

"Well, I'm here."

"I know." For some reason, however, it didn't register in his head as all that comforting.

As he was standing by the window, Hoshi lowered herself into the captain's chair. She had done the decency of wearing a robe, something that she usually forwent. "What's really wrong?"

"Is there some reason you don't believe me?"

"With all due respect, I know you. You're independent and you make decisions, well-aware of the alternatives and of the outcome. I manage to watch you on the Bridge without anyone seeing me. But tonight, there's something else in there."

Archer glanced out the window again. Hoshi was right; he wasn't feeling well. Glancing around the room, he said, "I've got a headache or something. I'll see you in the morning, okay?" he said quietly, in a way asking her to go.

Hoshi nodded, and then stood on tiptoe and planted a kiss on his cheek. "In the morning," she murmured and turned to leave. And then the captain found himself all alone again, wondering what else would go wrong in the night.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere on that Enterprise, Trip Tucker was trying to settle into sleep. And he wasn't succeeding.<p>

Something was on his mind. It wasn't the baby; it was T'Pol. He felt something in his mind with regards to her, and that something was worried sick. Very unlike T'Pol, he thought.

He knew that the Vulcans bonded after their marriage ceremonies, but T'Pol had told him that she thought it was impossible. Trip racked his mind for information. Vulcans bonded, mainly, as a convenient way to know when their mate entered pon farr. Trip had done his own estimation; it was one thing she still refused to tell him. He was under the impression that she wouldn't enter pon farr for another two years.

Trip just knew something was wrong with T'Pol.

And it just couldn't wait.

* * *

><p>"What is the reason for your visit?"<p>

T'Pol was trying to be as prim and proper as she could. She desperately wished she had done further research into whether or not it was possible for a human and Vulcan to bond. With Reed being here, she felt very uncomfortable. She needed Trip here.

Reed shrugged and slowly advanced. "I noticed the other day on the Bridge you changed your outfit."

T'Pol was searching her mind. She had not changed; her shift on the Bridge had only been for a little under four hours on the day he was questioning. In truth, she didn't know what he was talking about; she kept silent.

"I saw Commander Tucker here, right before I came."

T'Pol didn't let her eyes show concern. "I had fallen in the turbolift. He simply offered his assistance returning to my quarters." She sat down at her desk.

"Why had he offered?"

"If you are interested in learning why Commander Tucker offered me assistance, perhaps you should be enquiring of him," she spun around in her chair, and a touch of anger left with her comment. T'Pol was worried it might give something away.

Reed walked over and sat on her bed. "Frankly, I'm under the suspicion that you and Commander Tucker are more than just crewmates. It's something you could lose your privileges onboard for."

"And if you take one more step towards her, you're gonna lose your privileges," Trip said from the doorway. He stepped inside into the light and they all clearly saw the phase pistol aimed at the tactical officer.

Reed stood and scoffed. "The tactical teams are under my command."

"And I outrank you," Trip said, clearly piqued by the lieutenant's presence. "I'm serious, Lieutenant. Quit bothering her or I'll shoot."

"Commander," T'Pol said, almost pleading. "Don't resort to this level."

"This? This is something I shoulda done a long time ago. It's about time someone stood up to you, Lieutenant. And keep this in mind. Next time I find you in this position with anybody onboard this ship, I'll fire and be more than happy to do it."

Trip's threat apparently got through, for Reed sulked behind Trip and left the room.

The chief engineer watched the back of Reed's head till he was gone, and then he went and sat down on her bed. "You okay?" he said, extending his hands.

Her hands were lying in her lap, clasped together. She raised them and let them rest in Trip's. Clearly shaken, she looked at her husband. "Lieutenant Reed didn't inflict any physical injuries," she said as Trip's gaze drifted to her stomach.

"What about inside your head?" Trip softly asked.

She glanced down. "I believe you were right. We should consider leaving Enterprise. I believe it is too dangerous to continue onboard."

Trip pulled her chair closer to him. "Okay," he said, taking her in his arms and holding her, just for a moment. "Okay, we'll go."

Being held in her husband's arms, she suddenly remembered crucial things that had happened over the past four years. After Archer had kidnapped her, she adapted to life as best as she could. Subtlety had obscured Trip's gestures, on behalf of their safety. Afterwards, T'Pol appreciated it deeply. Trip had too, more so when he asked her to marry him. The least she could do to show her gratitude was say "Yes." And it was the best decision she had ever made.

* * *

><p>Travis Mayweather was still yawning but less as he walked back slowly to the turbolift. Most of the others had already walked past him; he didn't care, but right now the memory of how comfortable his bed was took precedence.<p>

Behind him, the doors opened again and he heard soft footsteps pacing to catch up with him. A slender hand caught onto his arm and Hoshi came around his front, laughing near the turbolift. "I know something you don't want to know. Want to?" she said in a sing-song tone.

"Maybe."

"There's something going on between T'Pol and Commander Tucker."

"Really?" Travis said, pushing the button inside for the turbolift to go to B-deck. "What makes you say that?"

"It's a woman thing. No offense. That and right when I left, I heard Captain Archer asking if T'Pol and Commander Tucker had smoothed over ruffled feathers. And I heard her say 'Yes' to him."

Travis shrugged. "It doesn't mean that they're gonna get together."

Hoshi shrugged like him. "We'll see. Night."

The doors opened and she took off out of the lift first. Travis literally dragged his feet and made it to his quarters, went inside, locked the door, and fell on his bed. He forgot everything that Hoshi had said.

And his bed felt better than he remembered.

* * *

><p>After Trip left T'Pol's quarters, his mind went to a beach on the Panhandle of Florida. He didn't let himself explore it more until he had lain down and gone to sleep. He knew it was all in his mind, it was all a dream. But it was the most pleasant thing he had experienced as of late. And the dream was one of his favorites.<p>

_When he had been mourning on Earth and T'Pol had come to him, he had been sitting cross-legged on the sand. Discreetly, she walked up to him in a slightly flowing robe. People around didn't notice that much, although some people were discriminate against aliens because of the Xindi. He was sifting through the sand and looking out at the water, silently wondering why it hadn't flowed into the long narrow strip of destroyed land the Xindi left behind._

_T'Pol sat down next to him and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Are you all right?"_

_Trip glanced at her and nodded. "When we were kids, Lizzie and I used to come to this beach a lot. We'd hang out here, surf if a storm was out in the Gulf, and just have fun." He looked at T'Pol again. "But I can't get used to never hanging out with her again."_

_"Enterprise will be shipping out in a few days. Captain Archer has asked me to remain aboard. I will still be here."_

_Trip glanced at her and thanked her with his eyes. "Ya know something? All this time, Lizzie has just been in my mind as one out of seven million people who died. And I remember that I'm just one family member who's mourning." A sob was on the verge of coming out, and of all people, T'Pol of Vulcan was the last person that he wanted seeing him losing his emotional control._

_Yet, he cried anyway. "But Lizzie was my sister, my baby sister. And we did everything, ya know?"_

_T'Pol moved her hand to his cheek. "You aren't going to be alone. I'll help you in any way I can." In a swift, graceful move, she lifted her head just so slightly and was in the process of giving him a kiss on the cheek when Trip sensed what she was doing and moved his head. He intercepted her lips and so, in the aftermath of a disaster that devastated his world and sitting on a beach that survived, Trip and T'Pol shared their first kiss. If he had known afterwards how difficult it would be on occasion, how weary it would make them, and how evil everything would seem in their lives, he still wouldn't have taken it back._

And then Trip woke up. He glanced at the clock, and it told him silently that he had only been asleep for three hours. But he remembered the dream. And he wouldn't have taken it back for anything.


	14. Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Trip Tucker was standing before the mirror in his quarters shaving when the razor went the wrong way and scraped the skin. "Aw, crap, not again," he said underneath his breath. It was the first time he had done it in a while, but it still irritated the crud out of him.

And then the chime rang too. Hoping it was who he thought it was, he put a bit of water over the cut and said, "It's open."

T'Pol walked in and stood by the entrance to the bathroom. With her arms crossed, she went straight to business and asked, "How do you plan on closing the anomaly?"

"And good morning to you too," Trip said, wiping his face with a towel. It slightly stung as it passed over the cut, but he didn't let it show through. He turned around to face her and smiled. "Well, I was thinking about using the deflector dish. That's as far as I got when you came in."

T'Pol raised her brow. "Fascinating."

"What?"

"We could use a deflector pulse similar to what we used in the process of destroying Sphere 41," T'Pol said, and Trip winced from the memory. She turned to walk to the door, adding, "Perhaps we could modify it to close the anomaly."

Trip shrugged. "You're the genius. Anyhow, I gotta fix this," he said, pointing to where he had cut himself.

T'Pol nodded, inclining her head to see. "Do you need help?"

"Nah, I think I have this. It's okay. I'll see you on the Bridge." And he walked back into the bathroom, as this tissue wasn't holding up well.

She paused by the door. "Commander."

"Yep?"

"Do you recall when we were working with the Aenar? When you asked me what I was thinking during our assault of Sphere 41?"

Trip walked back out of the bathroom, holding a piece of tissue to his cut. This was too good to pass up. "Yeah, I remember."

"I was viewing that situation from another point of view. However, I do understand what you were thinking."

"Oh, ya do, hmm?"

"I was worried about you as well."

Trip dropped his arm to the side and the piece of tissue stuck to his cut. T'Pol turned away, attempting to hide a little movement at the corner of her mouth, but thanks to the mirror right by the door Trip saw it. He saw her smile, just a bit. "I'll be on the Bridge, Commander." She pressed the door panel and walked out to the turbolift.

Trip stood, slightly dumbstruck until the tissue dropped to the floor. Bright red, he picked it up and disposed of it. He glanced to the mirror. The cut had clotted, but it was still red. Oh, well. There are some things you just can't avoid.

He straightened his neck, finished buttoning his black turtleneck under his blue uniform, and turned aside to look at himself long ways in the mirror. He smoothed out the uniform in front and wondered, just for a brief moment, what his counterpart was doing in that same minute.

Then he dismissed the thought, turned and walked out the door to the turbolift.

* * *

><p>Across the subspace anomaly barrier, another Trip Tucker wondered if he had a counterpart. Right about now, his life was at a point that he could use a swap.<p>

He had a great career on _Enterprise_. He was the chief engineer and managed not to get killed while doing what he loved. And the love of his life, T'Pol, was also secretly his wife. They were expecting a baby; in another person's life, nothing could be better.

In his life, nothing could be worse.

The tactical officer, Malcolm Reed, had a feeling about Trip and T'Pol. Frequently, in spite of no evidence, he acted on his "feeling" and it never ended well. After Trip's threat last night, he was sure that he would be in hiding from Reed for most of the day.

This made two people who openly made moves on T'Pol. Captain Archer, once his best friend but now a cynical man, had tried being nice to her when she came on the Bridge the other day. In his mind, Trip didn't know whether the captain was just trying to be nice or whether her outfit change had changed his opinion of her.

And Malcolm. In Trip's mind, he had been shooting darts at Malcolm's head the moment he saw him hovered over his wife. They went clean through the door as well. He considered mentioning "Hayes" just to irritate the crap out of Reed, but then he reconsidered, knowing that the tactical officer was at fault for Major Hayes' death in the Expanse.

Trip sighed, and then straightened his neck to get the kinks out of it. Last night, even with the dream, he hadn't slept well. He had been too concerned about T'Pol. From now on, he had to act as though he knew nothing about T'Pol.

He wondered what his counterpart knew about his T'Pol, whether they even knew each other, whether they were married or not, whether they were even alive.

And at that moment, Trip was glad for everything he had.

* * *

><p>Walking to the turbolift without Trip that morning, which she hadn't expected, T'Pol stood straightly and walked slowly. Subconsciously, she wondered what was going on in her counterpart's life at this moment. If she knew the truth about what was going on, T'Pol would have been scared out of her mind.<p>

Inside of her, she was happy. She was glad she didn't know.

Behind her, she heard pacing footsteps trying to catch up with her. Someone tapped her on her shoulder, saying rather close to her ear, "Ya waiting on me?"

She stopped walking. "Inadvertently."

Trip smiled and walked alongside her. T'Pol found herself slightly speechless, but thankfully he had been prepared as well and began discussing his plans for sealing the anomaly with a deflector pulse. When they reached the turbolift, Trip paused and looked at her. "So, what do ya think? Could it work?"

"I believe the correct version of that question is, will the captain agree to it?" she shot back as the turbolift opened.

Trip shrugged and prodded her inside, pushing the button for the Bridge. "I think he will." He reached into his pocket for a padd he had hidden earlier in their discussion and glanced it over. "I've got everything listed on here," he said as he handed it to her.

She took hold of the padd and suddenly her hand went to the emergency button. The turbolift shuddered, and Trip looked at T'Pol. "What happened? You okay?"

She lowered her voice. "It has become increasingly apparent to me that I am beginning to lose my emotional control."

"T'Pol, I kinda figured that out a while ago," Trip mentioned to her. "We all did."

She shook her head. "When Phlox was kidnapped, I performed a mind-meld with Ensign Sato to help her recall the memory of who attacked them. Captain Archer helped to guide me. When he suggested I lower my emotional control, I did so but something hasn't been right since then."

Trip shrugged, but his knowledge in the field was near zero. "You hadn't ever conducted a mind-meld before then, right?"

"Before the _Kir'Shara_ was discovered, mind-melds were almost considered taboo," she answered. "Something happened when I was . . ." The memory of Tolaris came over her like a cold wave of water, and it scared her. Yet, she knew that if she was ever to open up to Trip, she would have to start someplace. "I was forced into a mind-meld when we encountered the group of Vulcans who accepted emotion as a part of their lives."

Trip's eyes opened wide, but before he could think of anything to say, T'Pol continued. "And as a result, I contacted Pa'nar Syndrome. It's another facet of Vulcan culture which was considered taboo until the _Kir'Shara_ was found by Captain Archer. My Pa'nar Syndrome was healed by a mind-meld with T'Pau, and it is no longer considered a stigma."

Trip sunk against a wall. "T'Pol, why didn't you ever tell me any of this? I mean, I realize some of it happened a few years ago but still, why?"

Quietly, again she replied, "I was afraid. And along with the _Kir'Shara_ I was still afraid that you wouldn't take it the proper way."

"What's to take the wrong way?" Trip asked, throwing his arms up in the air. "I mean, in a literal sense you were date-raped mentally and then you just never told me anything. T'Pol, I care about you. I have a right to be mad."

"Trip, it happened in the past. Personally, many things that happened in my past I have not told you. As a result, you have not told me many things about you."

Trip paused against the wall again. "So when are we going to start?"

His question had no answer at the moment. After five seconds, T'Pol replied, "I started when I told you about my Pa'nar Syndrome. I believe that after this shift, we can continue the discussion we started last night and incorporate some of this information into it."

The engineer glanced around the turbolift and sighed. "All right, if that's what you want."

"If I don't talk about this, my emotional control will dissipate. I assume that is something you wish not to happen."

Trip nodded and T'Pol unlocked the emergency button. In less than a few seconds, the turbolift opened at the Bridge and many crewmen stood looking. One of them was Malcolm Reed. "Are you all right?"

Trip shrugged. "Yeah. Why?"

"Well, according to your console, the turbolift was stuck for nearly three minutes. We were a bit worried," Reed said emphatically.

Trip and T'Pol glanced between each other, and then in the same second, in the same tone, both replied, "We're fine."

In the center seat, Jonathan Archer repressed a smirk. T'Pol noticed; she would have a conversation with him later.


	15. Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

As the only Vulcan on _Enterprise_, much less the only alien to these people, it was hard to manage. Yet she found she had with Trip's help and therefore, life over the past four years was easier. After all, she had been on an Earth ship 81 times longer than any other Vulcan. Despite her lack of emotional control at the hands of Archer's and Reed's interrogations, any other Vulcan had only survived on an Earth ship for three weeks.

So T'Pol was standing in front of the mirror, adjusting her outfit for the day when a chime rang to her quarters. She didn't know who it was, considering that Trip was in Engineering already and Captain Archer had told her, for some odd reason, to take the day off.

"Come in."

Dr. Erica Coleman quickly entered her quarters. "I know you weren't planning on going anywhere today, so I brought you this." She pulled a hypospray out of her pocket. "It's just hormone supplements and the like. Figured you might need it," she added.

T'Pol sat on the bed. "Thank you, Doctor."

Coleman pressed it to T'Pol's neck, disposed of the serum, and inserted it back into her pocket. "So, are you experiencing any symptoms yet?"

"None. However, I believe that in pregnancy, none are expected for the first two months. I am only six weeks along."

Coleman crossed her arms, and T'Pol could tell she was joking. But she was also interested in this. "So how come all of a sudden you know more about this than me?"

Even though the doctor was joking, T'Pol went ahead and replied, "When a Vulcan female becomes pregnant, meditation is occasionally spent trying to connect with the unborn child. During meditation last night, I sensed the child's presence within me."

"Interesting. Have you and Commander Tucker made any arrangements yet?"

"What arrangements are there to be made?" T'Pol asked, looking up to Coleman and appearing completely innocent.

Coleman nodded, as she or any other crew were always unlikely targets of surveillance or covert listening stations. "Point taken. Anyhow, I'll see you later. Have to make the rounds. And if you need anything, don't hesitate to call me."

"Thank you."

Coleman nodded and stepped back into the corridor.

T'Pol glanced at the floor. If Archer didn't need her on the Bridge, then perhaps she would spend it meditating. So she lowered herself cross-legged back to the floor and closed her eyes.

* * *

><p>Captain Archer stood and looked at his two senior officers. "Trip, have you come up with a plan?"<p>

He glanced at the science officer, holding the padd. "Yeah." T'Pol held the padd and walked behind Trip to the situation room, and the other senior officers followed them. "It's a bit complicated, but it's a takeoff of what we did to Sphere 41."

Archer nodded at him to start.

Trip nodded and pulled up his information. "It pretty much involves using the deflector. It shouldn't be much of a problem, since we won't have the anomalous gases and the Sphere Builders." Trip ran his hands over the console, pulling up schematics that had been loaded off the padd.

Next to him, T'Pol slightly shifted. Around the table, many of the crewmembers had bad memories. Hoshi and Malcolm had been with Archer on Degra's ship when Sphere 41 was destroyed; Trip, T'Pol, Travis, and Phlox were all on the Bridge and ergo all together witnessed the scaly dermatological effects. From what Archer had heard, it itched horribly.

Trip glanced sideways at T'Pol, smiled, and then pointed at another schematic. "If we fire the deflector controls for seven minutes at this rate," he said, maneuvering the controls again, "it should seal the anomaly permanently."

Archer nodded; Trip frequently had the best ideas for problems. He had saved _Enterprise_ when the Klingons attempted to override the engineering protocols, and with T'Pol working alongside him they easily solved problems. Silently, Archer wondered why they used to have such trouble getting along.

"All right. How long will it—"

"Captain, maybe it's just me but the last time I tried this, all the systems on _Enterprise_ got fried within an inch of their lives," Trip said, interrupting.

T'Pol skewered him with a glare. "Last time this was attempted, Mr. Tucker, we had two other forces at work against us."

Trip sighed loudly, and then, "I'll have to give it a power-boost at the end of the pulse to close the seal, and that should do the trick."

"Questions?" Archer propositioned to the senior staff.

Travis nodded. "One. Will this have any effect on the warp coils, if you have to reroute power like last time?"

Trip bit his lip. "Ah, man. Thanks for mentioning that. I hadn't even thought of it. If that happens, the warp coils will fail and so will our disguise. If you'll excuse me, Captain," Trip said as he pushed away from the table, "I need to get down to Engineering and fix this so the other ship doesn't know what is going on."

"Do you need some help?" Archer asked.

"I could use T'Pol's assistance."

T'Pol retreated to the turbolift with Trip and descended to Engineering. Archer said, "Dismissed," and the others scattered to their stations. As they did, he only hoped nothing else would go wrong.

Inwardly he repressed a slight grimace. He realized that was the understatement of the mission.

* * *

><p>A different <em>Enterprise<em> that couldn't see through the anomaly was motionless on the other side. In its Armory, Malcolm Reed was doing his weekly count to keep his mind off of other matters.

He couldn't deny what had happened last night; Commander Tucker pointing a phase pistol at him with a valid threat was somewhat intriguing, least of all it was worrisome. By his nature, Commander Charles Tucker the Third was never threatening anybody. In spite of his lack of it, he still managed to stay onboard. Alive and well.

Malcolm shook it off. He couldn't figure it out, so he let it go. For all of three seconds.

He took a covert glance around the Armory. Perkins was cataloging the contents of the upper lever storage locker, and the new ensign under him – oh, what was her name, Kowalski – was on her way out of the Armory towards the Mess Hall. Remembrance of Section 31 was coming over him; the tactical officer allowed himself a sly smile and then opened the computer records to that of the chief engineer.

He scanned his Starfleet profile. Most of it was stuff he already knew: _Born in Florida_. The accent gave it away. _Marital status_: single. Reed shook his head, wondering. Tucker never acted like a skirt chaser. But then again, Malcolm didn't either.

He kept going, looking at jobs that his different commanding officers had inserted over the fifteen years that Tucker had been in Starfleet. Behind him, another set of doors opened and Malcolm calmly hit another switch and closed the file.

"Are you busy, Lieutenant?"

Malcolm turned around and stroked his chin, ticking off the captain. "Not at all, sir."

Archer narrowed his eyes at Malcolm and glared at him. But seeing as how the captain had no sidearm and the tactical officer had one and some hidden, the lieutenant won over. "I'm slightly worried about Commander Tucker."

Outside, Malcolm pretended to be interested, but inside he was concocting a quick scheme. Perhaps last night would work to his advantage. "What about him, sir?"

"Have you noticed how Trip seems to have just gotten over his sister's death, just like that?" Archer said, snapping his fingers. Malcolm nodded and let the captain continue. "When my father died, it took me a long time to move on. Some on the crew even think I haven't."

"I've noticed, sir. In fact, I've reported on it."

"Then maybe you can help me. Do you know of anything Trip might be involved in that would be altering his state of mind?"

Malcolm was about to grin and present details of last night's incident with Tucker until Archer interrupted. "And I need evidence. Trip is my friend. I don't want him to be unfairly accused of anything if he is innocent."

An arrow shot from a hidden location into Malcolm's mind. His dreams for the morning were dashed, and the only thing he could do was nod his head. "I'll look into it, sir."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. I also need the weaponry report by noontime. Can you do that?"

Reed nodded again and the captain turned around and left. Suddenly, Malcolm began to wonder: where did Tucker get that phase pistol from?

He turned back to the ladder. "Perkins!"

Zach Perkins, a fit young man, came down the ladder towards Reed. Clearly, he knew what the consequences were otherwise. "Sir."

"Have you found any phase pistols missing or dislodged?" Reed asked, seeming to be completely uninterested while looking at a padd.

"Not yet, sir. However, I haven't completed my recording yet. I should be done in half an hour."

"Let me know immediately if any are missing or dislodged. Do you understand?"

"Missing or dislodged. I've got it."

"Dismissed."

Perkins turned around and descended off the balcony-like ledge. Malcolm smiled to himself; this gave him someone to find the weapon Tucker used on him last night and it also gave him time to pay T'Pol another visit to help him prove last night's threat in her quarters.

Sometimes life was too kind.


	16. Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Trip sighed as he looked at a screen in Engineering. Next to him, T'Pol did not even move as she attended to her work. He couldn't stand it; standing this close to her was about to make him go crazy in the light of the information that had been revealed earlier. He turned away from the computer interface as he scanned the crowd. "Hess."

"Sir?"

He steered her away to another console. "I'm havin' a bit of trouble tryin' to figure out somethin'. To seal the anomaly, we have to fire up the deflector, but T'Pol and I are workin' on a backup plan. Just in case we have to divert power from the engines—"

"—Which would cause the warp coils to fluctuate, which would render our current appearance literally in the past tense," Hess quickly filled in.

Trip nodded at her. "When Commander T'Pol and I get this deal with the warp coils fixed, I need you to have a way to increase our power so we can stay at 8000 kilometers from the anomaly. How quick can you have something rigged?"

Hess shrugged. "Roughly half an hour. Maybe more."

"All right. We should be done by then."

Hess smiled and turned to her work. "By the way, welcome back. Kelby was starting to be a pain in the butt."

Trip grinned and walked back to where T'Pol was standing. When he got within earshot, she said, "I believe I've found a way to increase the effect of the warp coils so that if need be, our camouflage won't be affected if we need to divert power."

Trip nodded, glancing over the screen. "And just in case, I've got Hess working on another plan so our position in comparison to the anomaly isn't affected when we close it."

T'Pol turned in place and looked at him. Quietly, she suggested, "Perhaps we should notify the captain that we have a plan and tell him how long it will take to complete the modifications."

Trip nodded and pressed the nearest comm button. "Tucker to the Bridge."

Archer responded immediately; apparently, he had been waiting apprehensively for this call. "Go ahead, Trip."

Trip glanced sideways at T'Pol as he spoke. "We have a plan. T'Pol has figured out a way to keep the warp coils from going offline. Hess is working on a plan to increase our power flow to the deflector so we maintain 8000 kilometers from the anomaly horizon."

"When will you be done?"

Trip glanced sideways at T'Pol and kept silent. She perked her head up. "In a half hour, according to my estimates."

"Sounds good. We'll be waiting."

Trip took the initiative. "Tucker out."

He and T'Pol glanced back at the console. If this went off without a hitch, it would all be over inside of an hour. Knowing he was going to talk to T'Pol again soon and continue the conversation from the turbolift only made him want to work harder. But being aware of the other personnel around Engineering and her preference for privacy, he threw all he had into work.

* * *

><p>Trip put all he had into disposing of a weapon. The weapon in question, a phase pistol, was missing from a weapons locker onboard <em>Enterprise<em>. Malcolm Reed would likely shoot him with it and use a few other devices as well if it was found within his processions. Getting rid of it was the only option if he wished to live.

And for his wife and unborn child's sakes, he did.

The weapon was hidden at the present in his jacket pocket, a safe place because of the billowy appearance. As long as no one literally ran into him or frisked him, he figured he was safe. He was walking casually around the corridors, and eventually he found himself by an airlock. The last time that Reed had pushed someone out, the controls had jammed up. In reality, the computer was receiving commands from two locations: Malcolm at the airlock, and Trip down in Engineering, attempting to save that crewman's life.

Malcolm had won out and now, Trip was using it for an excuse to dispose of his weapon. He knelt down by the controls, gently took off the bulkhead, and just suddenly felt that someone else was there.

He glanced upwards. Hoshi Sato surprised him by wearing a full-length pair of pants. "Commander. Do you have a minute?"

He turned back to the bulkhead. "Yeah. Just now gettin' around to fixin' this. What's up, Hoshi?"

She knelt down next to him. "Honestly, sir, I'm a little worried about the captain."

"Is he missing Porthos again?" Trip asked.

Hoshi slightly smiled and shrugged. "Something like that. Actually, Jon's been feeling like he's lost. If you get my drift."

"Kinda. What, is the cynical accusation gettin' 'round to him again?"

"I just think he would appreciate having one of his friends to talk to."

Trip smiled, chuckled, and said, "Just keep in mind, Hoshi, that the last time I went to talk to him, we got drunk and shaved off Malcolm's goatee."

"Which many of the Bridge crew thank you for," Hoshi said, seeming thankful. "But I think the captain would appreciate having a friend. One of his honest friends, like you."

Trip glanced at her. "Thanks, Hoshi. I'll go see him later. He in his quarters?"

"Where else would he be?" Hoshi said as she stood up and walked away.

Trip watched her to make sure she rounded the corner away from him. He packed his tools back up; he made sure no one else was coming, and then opened the hatch on the interior of the airlock. He tossed the phase pistol in, closed the door, and programmed the computer so it wouldn't alert the Bridge stations. One of the things he enjoyed about being chief engineer was that he could do stuff like that and get away with it.

He smiled. At least he knew this was one thing that he was gonna get away with from Malcolm's standpoint. He opened the outer airlock, overriding the decompression protocols, and the phase pistol froze over as did any physical evidence.

He picked up his tool box, walked away from the airlock towards Engineering, and he had the oddest smile on his face. Oh, well, he thought. One less thing to be killed for.

* * *

><p>Hoshi Sato approached her quarters with a guarded expression. After leaving the airlock where Commander Tucker was repairing the controls, she had information that could affect her future.<p>

She pressed the key pad by her door and went inside. She took off the overcoat that she was wearing, held it as she walked to the closet the hang it up, and thought over her life during the past four years.

Captain Archer had asked her to come on after the Klingon Klaang crashed on Earth. Back then, she was eager to learn new languages, but one evening after they left Quo'noS, Archer had shown up outside her quarters. In the hour that followed, he had suggested – in a none too subtle way – that he wanted to make an exception to the no-fraternization rule onboard the ship.

Hoshi ended up being known in private circles around Starfleet as a "captain's woman." Inwardly, she thought the term was a little dirty, but proper enough. It inspired fear on the part of a few people she had known in Brazil. And it had changed who she was. She didn't even know the person in the mirror anymore.

For one brief moment, she glanced in the mirror and sighed. She missed being the innocent young woman that she had been when Archer first asked her to come onboard. Now, she looked sleazy and Hoshi doubted her father would even recognize her. At the moment, innocent was the last word anyone would have used to describe her, and she wasn't by a long shot.

She moved her hand to open her closet and gasped. Inside, a dark figure made a motion to come into the common area of her quarters. He took her coat from her and hung it inside. "Miss Sato."

She groaned inwardly; if he had heard she would have been dead. "Lieutenant Reed."

Malcolm Reed smiled slyly and glanced at Hoshi's pants – or her legs, she decided the longer that she thought about it. "You have something to tell me?"

As much as she decided she would regret it later, she nodded and began her telling of her work as a double agent.


	17. Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Everyone on the Bridge was waiting on Tucker and T'Pol to come up from below decks and report on their project. Archer had gone to his ready room; he seemed to be under the impression that they would call on their way up. And he was likely right.

Malcolm Reed sat at his station, arms crossed, glancing around at everyone. Travis Mayweather had turned his chair around to face Hoshi Sato, and they seemed to be wrapped up in conversation that excluded everyone else on the Bridge, Reed included. He didn't mind; it gave him time to quietly call the Armory and get the tactical report that he had neglected to retrieve earlier. He doubted there would be enough time before the chief engineer and the Vulcan science officer completed their work on the deflector, the warp coils, and the anomaly seal.

He worked on his console and hummed quietly as he did so. He reasoned with himself, classical shouldn't be that offensive to the officers present. As he called up the report that he had been tending to earlier, Travis and Hoshi turned in their seats to look at him. He tried not to notice; however, Travis caught his attention. "Umm, sir?"

Malcolm looked up innocently from his console as he stopped humming. "Yes?"

Hoshi glanced at Travis, and then back to Reed. "Sir, what are you humming?"

Malcolm shrugged his shoulders at them. "Really. It's only Mozart. Good lord." He began humming again, pulling up the rest of the tactical report as Hoshi broke off from looking at Travis and began working her own console. She typed something, and then stood and walked behind the captain's chair to the door to the ready room. She pressed the door pad, entered, and Malcolm silently wondered what she was doing.

Hoshi returned a moment later with Captain Archer following her. "Lieutenant, may I speak with you in private?" he said.

Being the only lieutenant on the Bridge at the time, Malcolm stood and walked to the Situation Room where Archer was standing. Archer turned around. "I hate to break this to you, Malcolm, but you're a little on the tone-deaf side of humming this morning. No offense, but do you think you could hold off until you're off duty today?"

Reed nodded. "She could've just told me herself."

Archer smiled. "If I can suggest something? Try being a little more open with the Bridge staff. They might let you in on some of their conversations, or they might be talking behind your back. Use an open mind on duty, okay?"

Malcolm nodded. "Thank you, sir."

Archer nodded in acknowledgement, and then the comm beeped. "Tucker to the Bridge."

Malcolm went and sat down; Archer sat down in his chair and pressed the comm. "Go ahead, Trip."

"The warp coils are rigged up now. If they fail on us now, I swear I'm resigning."

"Yet another interesting example on Commander Tucker's part of sarcasm," T'Pol noted in the background.

Trip scowled, and then added, "We're gonna have to divert power briefly from life-support to maintain position, but we're good to go. We're on our way to the Bridge."

"Understood. Archer out." To the helm, Archer said, "Maintain our position 8500 kilometers from the anomaly horizon, Travis."

"8500 kilometers, aye."

"Hoshi, any sign that the other ship has detected us?"

She shook her head. "The mirror _Enterprise_ is keeping position, but I'm picking up audio transmissions from it."

"What's new?" Archer asked.

Hoshi's face slightly scrunched while she picked through the dialogue. "Umm, the doctor is a woman named Erica Coleman . . . I've been helping Lieutenant Reed . . ." She pressed her earpiece closer in. "Oh, I've been helping him with some surveillance on the senior staff . . . and T'Pol is pregnant."

After Hoshi's last comment, you literally could have heard a pin drop. All stayed quiet until Archer asked, "Do you know who the father is?"

"It seems no one does. No one knows she's pregnant either." Hoshi touched her console again. "But I've found it."

"Who is it?"

"Commander Tucker."

At that moment, the turbolift opened and inside, Trip Tucker and T'Pol clearly had no idea of what the senior staff assembled was discussing. Trip shrugged. "Hey, guys. What did we miss?"

Archer stayed quiet; he couldn't bring himself to say anything, fearing it might arouse suspicion. "Trip, T'Pol. Can I see you in my ready room?"

Reed watched the three officers walk into the ready room. Silently, he wished he could have been a fly on that wall to see how they took it.

* * *

><p>"WHAT?" was the first thing out of Trip's mouth after Archer told them that the T'Pol from the other <em>Enterprise<em> was with child. T'Pol looked like she felt she was having an out-of-body experience as Trip ran an exasperated hand through his hair. T'Pol nearly sunk into a chair but maintained her composure.

"You're kidding me. Pregnant?"

Archer skipped over all the emotional baggage. "Did either of you see this coming?"

Trip and T'Pol glanced between each other; she spoke first. "Commander Tucker observed that his counterpart was wearing band in secret. It was assumed that I was the spouse in question."

Everything that had been happening between his two best friends over the past few days suddenly made sense to Archer: why T'Pol had shushed about what Trip's counterpart looked like during the briefings, why Trip chased T'Pol off the Bridge and apparently made their peace, why they stood so close at all the briefings. After the incident with Lorian's _Enterprise_ in the Expanse and after discovering this information, they had adequate information about a possible future between them. They had lived with this for months; Trip even ended up leaving _Enterprise_ because of it and coming back in the end.

Who knew what had happened between then in secret. Archer continued his line of questioning. "Does this change your feelings about closing the anomaly?"

T'Pol answered first. "Your counterpart still voices an opinion about crossing over into our universe. It could prove hazardous, not only to Starfleet, but to other alien cultures that might encounter them in the future."

Archer nodded. "Trip?"

Trip nodded as well. "As much fun as it would be to see it as a baby, I gotta agree with T'Pol. We have no idea what they could be planning for coming into our universe. Besides that, Admiral Gardner already ordered you to seal it up."

Archer stood behind his desk and walked around to his two friends. "You're right about that. Starfleet wants us out of here by tomorrow. Trip, how much more time do you need for the deflector to be ready?"

Trip looked at T'Pol on his left, and then back to the captain in front of him as he replied, "Probably three hours or just less than that."

"It might be possible to decrease that estimate to two hours," T'Pol suggested as she watched Archer pull his journal out of his cabinet. The captain was aware of her watching him; she had watched him for four years previously and likely she knew that he only pulled it out and used it when it was the best of times and the worst of times. This was true; yet, Archer only pulled it out this time to review what he had written before.

Still, Archer appreciated his science officer offering a short-cut suggestion and inclined his head at her, letting her continue. Trip's eyes were on her as well as she said, "I may have discovered a short-cut since our time in the Expanse, but I cannot guarantee that it will work."

"Get started."

Trip and T'Pol looked at each other for only a second, and then T'Pol, being closer to the door, turned and opened it. Trip turned and was following her out when Archer made a split-second decision. Something just wasn't right; Trip and T'Pol were glancing at each other too much.

"Trip. Can you wait a minute?"

Yet again, they glanced at each other and Archer stifled an agitated moan. Softly, Trip said, "I'll meet you in Engineering." When T'Pol raised both of her already up-swept eyebrows, he lowered his voice even more as he assured her, "Don't worry. I'll be down in a few minutes," smiling as he said it.

T'Pol nodded, and as she left Archer narrowed his eyes. Trip glanced at the door until it shut, and then turned back to the captain as he said, "So what's up?"

Without hesitation, Archer said, "I've left this entire issue between you and T'Pol alone for the time being. I'm just wondering: have you come up with any plans for the future?"

Trip tilted his head. "Ya mean like naming our firstborn after you?"

Archer smiled. "Something like that. Actually, Trip, I'm a little worried about what this might entail for the crew."

"What, are ya gettin' the rest of the crew involved in this?"

"If I lift the no-fraternization rule on you and T'Pol, some might think I'm being partial because you're my best friends."

"Hmm. So what do ya need, an excuse from Phlox or somethin'?" Trip uttered with a quiet, mirthful chuckle.

Archer never took his eyes off of Trip. "As unlikely as that sounds, a medical excuse would be great."

Trip chuckled again and glanced out the window. But when he looked back to Archer, the captain's gaze hadn't moved at all; his expression hadn't changed either. "Oh. You're not kiddin', are ya?"

Archer shook his head.

"Oh, all right. Well, I'll drag T'Pol to Sickbay with me after we're done. I imagine it's time for physicals or somethin', hmm?" With a nod at the door, Trip said, "She's waitin' on me in Engineering."

Faintly, Archer nodded, and Trip's hand went for the door pad. "One more thing, Trip," Archer quickly said after another split-second decision. "Are you sure you're okay about closing the anomaly? With your counterparts and all?"

Trip paused by the open door and turned solemn. "It's their life. Not mine and T'Pol's, at least not yet. Not by a long shot." He sighed, and then he turned to face the door. "Back to work."

Archer watched his chief engineer's back vanish onto the Bridge. Despite what troubles might be lurking around the corners, he only wanted what was best for his friends, what was going to make them happy.

As he sat down again at his desk and bent his head over his journal, he silently wondered, Is that too much to ask?


	18. Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

As he walked from the turbolift to Engineering, Trip was wondering why Captain Archer had suddenly taken an interest in his plans for the future. Maybe he was being too paranoid about it, Trip suggested to himself. Or, maybe the captain was just taking a sincere interest in what his friend was thinking about for the future.

Trip decided on the latter option; not only did it make more sense but it made the captain seem less like a spy and more like a friend.

He passed a crewman heading away from Engineering holding his hand. Upon a closer look, the young man was covered in soot, smoke, and ash. Trip reached out and grabbed the man's arm, carefully avoiding the hand which appeared to be injured. "Grant. What happened?"

The young man glanced behind him. "A plasma relay in Engineering went crazy. I think they're trying to get it under control now."

"Anyone else hurt?"

Grant shook his head, but verbally he replied, "I don't know. It was widespread; I was standing on the top level."

Trip released his arm and let him go. In his mind, there was only one thing that he was worried about. Softly, he said, "T'Pol."

Trip took off running, avoiding people left and right as they exited the affected area. The one person he didn't yet see was T'Pol. As he came to the door, he saw Hess, covered in soot but standing as she directed people.

"Hess!" he called and her head pulled in his direction. As he fought his way through the crowd, he was still looking for pointed ears but failed to find them. "You okay?" he said as he stood next to her.

Hess nodded. "Yeah."

"Anyone missing?"

In gasps clearly laced with pain, she said, "Don't . . . know."

Although it might give away something, he strongly asked, "Where's T'Pol?"

The engineering assistant cocked her head to the door. "Inside."

Behind him, he heard everyone talking, but when Hess said that T'Pol was still in Engineering, the talking turned into a faint singular voice. He pushed his way through to the common area of Engineering and looked around. People were lying on the floor and so far, none of them were wearing the red-tinted uniform he had just seen T'Pol in less than half an hour ago. The people began moving in their fetal positions, and he left them alone.

Medics were coming in, helping people to their feet and directing gurneys. He jumped up the stairs to the warp engine, checking it to make sure that it was stable. After he was positive, he hit the comm. "Tucker to the Bridge!"

Archer responded. "Go ahead, Trip. What happened?"

"One of the plasma relays exploded. Engineering looks like a war zone, but the engine is okay. I haven't found T'Pol yet, so I don't know about the deflector yet."

"Contact us when there's more news. Do you need any help?"

"Negative. More people would just add to the commotion. Tucker out."

Quickly, Trip slid down the ladder and saw scorch marks on the bulkhead in front of him. He winced; it must have been where the relay was. He jumped the steps upstairs, looking for T'Pol still and getting even more worried since he hadn't seen any sign of her, alive or unconscious.

But behind him, down the long strip of railing, he heard a voice that went higher in volume the more that he listened. He saw a figure covered in soot with her back to him, facing another engineer and holding a padd. He walked down the metal, gently stepping over debris, as he listened in. "Make sure that all crewmen are accounted for. Coordinate with Dr. Phlox, as some may have already departed for Sickbay."

"Yes, ma'am," the crewman said as he took the padd that she extended to him. When he turned away, he maneuvered her in a manner that made her turn as well. When she looked up, Trip was standing just four feet away from her. A tear was hidden at the corner of his eye.

"You okay?" he quietly asked.

T'Pol nodded. "I believe that I may be at fault for this explosion."

"We'll discuss culpability later," he said, moving closer while he said it. "Are you sure you're okay?"

T'Pol lifted a darkened hand to his cheek. "I am now."

Trip gently let go of the small deluge that he'd been holding back. "I thought you were . . . well, I really didn't know. I couldn't find you anywhere."

"I was worried for you as well. Where were you?" she asked, lowering her voice.

"Ah, the captain wanted to chit-chat, that's all. I would have been down here sooner, but . . ."

"We should both be thankful that Captain Archer detained you," she added, turning him by placing her hands on his arms. Gyrating in place, Trip saw another blackened console, one that he favored working at. He had a faint idea of what she would say and fortunately, it was true. "Only a few seconds after the plasma relay exploded on the main level, a surge went through that console that seriously injured a crewman standing there. If you had been here, it likely would have been you."

Trip owed the captain a thank-you; her point was extremely valid. He took one last glanced at the console, and then turned back to T'Pol. "Thanks," he whispered to her, his lips close to her ear.

Four years ago, she would have looked confused beyond all reason; she probably would have rendered him unconscious for being as close as he was. But instead of that, she whispered back, "You're welcome," understanding what he meant by what he said. The comfort was what he needed.

Another crewman came around the corner, and Trip and T'Pol were trying to get out of their current positions without raising suspicions. T'Pol tried to go around him, but he reached out and touched her arm. "T'Pol, can we finish that discussion tonight, in my quarters?"

She nodded. Trip wondered whether he should bring up visiting Sickbay when she added, "And as I know you will insist on it later, I will visit Sickbay before I arrive."

"Thanks. And I promise, I'll explain about the insistence too."

Lowering her voice again, she said, "Meet me at Sickbay at 1800 hours." With that, she went around him and walked down to the ladder. As she descended, Trip stood and felt slightly like an idiot. Right now, however, that was one thing that he couldn't afford.

He met with her again after descending the steps. "Was the deflector damaged?"

She consulted a console. "I don't believe so. However, I lost the short-cut sequence in the explosion. If it was a result of the sequence, I believe it is adequate to say that the short-cut does not work."

Trip nodded and pressed the comm button again. "Tucker to the Bridge."

"Go ahead."

"T'Pol thinks the explosion was a result of the short-cut. We're back at three hours for sealing the anomaly."

"How are things otherwise?"

"We're okay," Trip said, glancing at T'Pol. "Some critical injuries, but the ship looks worse than it is. Once we get Engineering cleared out, we'll break out the mops and rags. We should be ready to fire up the deflector in three hours, as before. Tucker out."

Trip looked back at T'Pol and the assistants that were gathering. "Okay. Billy, clean up around the relay a bit. Make sure the power is diverted so it doesn't spark again. T'Pol, can we move our work, maybe to the observation room?"

She nodded. "I'll need five minutes."

Trip nodded and watched her as she walked upstairs again. Here she was, a fairly attractive Vulcan covered in soot and other matter. Her red uniform now appeared to be maroon or a mahogany color. Her peach skin was a fading shade of tan. Her brown hair was darkening from the ashes.

And yet, Trip smiled. He couldn't have found her more beautiful if he had been looking at her before the explosion. Oh, well, he thought as he turned to the console again. Love does crazy things to a person, but it had literally changed him for the better.

* * *

><p>As things were between the two realities, when one thing happened, for example the plasma relay explosion in Engineering, something similar happened in nature but slightly differing transpired in the other universe. Something happened on the mirror <em>Enterprise<em>, but it was an accident that was actually caused by a person onboard with the intent of harm.

This time around, a minor explosion in the Armory, a worse area than Engineering, had caused as much damage as the one on the "real" _Enterprise_, but there had been more injuries deliberately caused by the officer in charge of the Armory, a clean-shaven Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, and people were afraid to be around F-deck by the Armory, or in Reed's presence anywhere. Even on the Bridge, many officers seemed afraid to be working there when Reed was.

T'Pol even appeared shaken by this turn of events; Reed found himself smiling when he thought about the look on her face. He may have been smiling about the knowledge that no one on the senior staff could place him near the Armory, wiring relays on a timer late last night when most of the senior staff was either asleep, working in their quarters, or talking with someone else. Reed had made sure of that; he had enlisted Hoshi Sato's help with that endeavor. As a result, T'Pol had been in her quarters; ideas planted in Tucker's mind about Captain Archer caused them to spend most of the night talking. Erica Coleman, the fairly attractive doctor, had stayed in Sickbay as she made a habit of doing.

Reed was actually using this plan to get rid of certain people. Archer and Tucker stood in his way of getting to the captain's chair; they were top on his list for elimination. T'Pol and Dr. Coleman were civilians and therefore they presented no problem. It was unlikely that Hoshi would be promoted. Despite her relationship with the captain, she assisted Reed more than the captain divulged information to her. Yes, Hoshi would be a great help, in the slightly disturbed mind of Malcolm Reed.

However, the explosion had a different impact on one crewmember; coincidence had it that this person was also on Reed's elimination list, although Reed had no knowledge that this person knew. Archer and Tucker had been called to the Armory by Reed, who in actuality was nowhere near the site. He was inside his quarters, watching the two up until they got the call. He shut off the visual monitors at that point, content to know that they would both be gone.

Reed's plan had gone awry; Tucker stopped by Sickbay and Coleman detained him and Archer for a few minutes. In those few moments, the timer went off. One man had been in the Armory and so was burned; yet he would live. As a certain pointed-eared woman pointed out to Tucker, he should be grateful to Dr. Coleman, for she had inadvertently saved his life. However, just between the two of them, it also emphasized the earlier point that their lives were in jeopardy. Although neither of them came directly out and said it, Reed was narrowing his opposition down. Trip stood in his way; once Archer was out of command, which could be accomplished without killing him but instead with a doctor's excuse, the chief engineer was in the captain's chair. There was a long-standing duel between Trip and Reed; the latter wouldn't hesitate to shoot him.

Tucker knew that he couldn't stay on _Enterprise_ at the rate that Reed was working. T'Pol predicted, at this rate, Trip would likely be dead in a week. And so just between the two of them, in Trip's quarters, they made a pact: they would be off of _Enterprise_ in five days. Everything would be going as normal to anyone who looked at them. And then one morning, the crew would wake to find the chief engineer and the Vulcan female missing.

They sealed it with a rarely tasted kiss. Now all he had to do was figure out how to escape.


	19. Chapter 19

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Onboard this _Enterprise_, Tucker was on his way to Engineering away from his cabin. His mind was filled with information to the point of bursting; he silently thought of everything he and T'Pol had said about leaving, and his brain hurt at the thought of solving the "how" in their discussion.

So he turned his attention and thinking to the lengthy conversation he and the captain had last night at Hoshi's suggestion. It turned out that Archer wasn't feeling his best. Trip knew how to solve his mood problems, and part of the solution was the bottle of bourbon resting in Archer's cabinet.

And it worked, as usual.

_Trip leaned back in his seat, smiling and looking at the half-empty bottle. "Ya know, it's too bad we shaved Reed last time. We need another prank."_

_Archer nodded and stayed quiet. Trip considered pushing the subject, but soon enough the captain poured another shot and sipped it, turning somber. "Do a lot of people know about me and Hoshi?" he asked, eyeing the shot glass thoughtfully._

_Trip shrugged and sat his glad down on the desk. "I think people assume more than anything. And no offense, Captain, but sometimes Hoshi doesn't help. When she talked to me earlier, she used your first name. Now, considering how long we've been friends, she just figured I could tell. Otherwise, people stay pretty much silent."_

_Archer shook his head. "What do you think?"_

_Trip bit his lip in thought for a second, but he knew he was getting close to crossing into forbidden territory regarding himself and T'Pol. So he put the thought out of his mind and gave an honest answer. "I think that whatever people do stays in private should stay in private."_

_Archer nodded approvingly. Trip sighed inside, knowing the hot water was past him. He picked up the bourbon and poured some more as the captain downed the rest of his glass. He set the empty one down again and as Trip filled it up, Archer looked at him. "Trip, can I ask you a question?"_

"_Guess so. As long as it has nothin' to do with Malcolm Reed."_

_Archer grinned. "No. How do you manage to keep out of trouble so much?"_

"_I keep all my worries and problems inside my quarters and my head. And I vent every once in a while. I also try and stay away from Malcolm."_

"_I thought you said not to ask anything about Reed. Now you're talking freely about him."_

"_Ah, but I just said for you to not ask anything. I didn't restrict myself. Besides, I think I'm allowed to give life-saving advice." Trip realized after he said it that it would probably lead into a discussion about their near-death experience earlier in the time that they had been onboard Enterprise and immediately, he regretted it. It was an experience, dark in Trip's mind, that personally hi didn't like to talk about._

_Archer started it. "Do you still remember Haines?"_

_Trip could only nod; it was lying to say no. "It's not like I can forget him. Not exactly my favorite experience on Enterprise."_

_Haines was the major reason for the division between Trip and Reed. Noah Haines was an ensign in Engineering, and while he wasn't that outgoing, he was a bit secretive. Unfortunately, he was too secretive for Reed. Reed managed to fool most of the crew into believing that Haines was a planted spy. And then, one fateful day, Haines was found in a compromising position. A chase ensued; as it turned out, the two officers that found him were Trip and Malcolm. _

_Trip had his phase pistol, but Malcolm had his aimed at Haines. Reed shot him and blackmailed Trip into keeping it quiet. Trip took the blame, and then less than a week later, Reed made it publicly known that he had set up the entire scenario, including having Haines being placed in that location. Trip was cleared of blame; most of the crew knew that he was too compassionate to be responsible for something even remotely similar to this._

_Of course, this was the beginning of Malcolm Reed's mutiny spree. Subtly, he began picking off crewmembers for idiotic charges. In Trip's mind, he was the next one in line. And after him, Captain Archer. _

_There was no hope as he thought about it. Trip only sighed as he poured more in the glasses. "I gotta admit, Captain, I worry about Reed. Not in the mentally deranged sense, but in the sense that we might be the next ones shot by him."_

_Archer nodded. "I think so too. But what can we do? People have more fear for Malcolm than they have respect for me some days."_

"_Maybe . . . maybe we can use that to our advantage," Trip thought aloud._

_Archer narrowed his eyes at him, questioning his words. "How?"_

_Trip shrugged. "Beats me. I think I've had one too many drinks, and I've got to that point where I just start mutterin' stuff."_

_Archer started laughing, making Trip wonder just how thick these walls were. "Easy, Captain. Don't think everyone on G-deck heard you."_

_The captain restrained himself, but only to a degree. "Seriously. Do you really think Reed has it out for us?"_

"_Me, definitely. The way I see it, we stand in his way of getting' to the command seat, and he seems to want it. Now back to what I was sayin' or at least I think I was sayin' it. People fear Malcolm more than they respect you most days, and in my book that's just plain wrong. Maybe if we both disappear Malcolm gets the seat with shootin' anyone."_

"_But we don't really disappear," Archer filled in._

"_Ya got it. Same thing with Travis. Malcolm fired a shot and I beamed him away. It's a piece of cake."_

"_So theoretically, when we disappear, were do we go?" Archer asked his chief engineer._

_Trip shook his head; he had no answer for that. In a few seconds, though, he came up with one. "Anywhere you want to go, I guess. It would take a while to add some juice to the transporter, but mainly on the ship, anywhere you wanted. I know Sickbay's a safe place. Dr. Coleman sees through Malcolm's schemes. She's a civilian so he can't order her around." He lifted his glass to his mouth for the last time that night. "Anyhow, just sleep on it. I gotta get some sleep."_

_Archer nodded, still looking at his glass. "Good night, Trip."_

"_Good night, Captain," Trip replied, picking his jacket off the back of the chair he had been sitting in. His jacket felt like it had been pressed under a hot iron, and it felt good. Leaving the captain's quarters, he casually walked back to his cabin, passing almost no one. In his current state of mind he almost didn't notice, but inside it scared him just enough to think that Reed was up to something that he picked up his pace, got to his door, and went inside._

_Sitting on his desk, as there had been about a week before, was a new and fresh piece of pecan pie. A note lay next to it; Trip picked it up and read it first._

"_Trip, I believe that Lt. Reed suspects that our relationship is progressing beyond the colleague sense. It's imperative that we plan our escape relatively soon. T'Pol"_

The note led to the discussion they had voiced in his quarters that morning before he headed to Engineering. Trip cleared his head of all matters and turned to the matter at hand: work.


	20. Chapter 20

CHAPTER TWENTY

T'Pol carried a share of padds to the observation room. Engineering personnel were working on repairing the site of the explosion, Trip excluded, but the matter remained that Starfleet had ordered the anomaly closed and they had to accomplish it by tonight.

Behind her, Trip was towing more equipment to the observation room as well. She estimated that he was carrying 1.84 times as much as she was, but one explanation stood out. Human males were supposed to be stronger than females; although being Vulcan and in Earth-normal gravity she could carry more, Trip was unaware of these facts and insistent that he carry it.

He grunted. T'Pol stopped, as did Trip behind her. They were both stubborn, but at the moment Trip's stubbornness was injuring him and getting on her nerves. She moved behind him and picked up a heavier piece of equipment that had had been carrying on his back, and then continued on to the observation room.

Trip caught up with her and looked slightly dumbfounded. "What was that for? I was gettin' it fine."

"It was clearly causing you pain," she retorted.

Trip made a face, one he frequently did when she said something truthful and yet he tried to defend himself. "Well, yeah, but-"

"Do you recall when you visited Vulcan with me?"

Trip smirked. "All too well."

"Before we left, I recommended that you ask Dr. Phlox for a medicine called tri-ox compound. Did you?"

"Nah, you know how stubborn I am."

"All too well," she repeated. She set the equipment down to press the door pad for the observation room. In preparation for their arrival, no one was inside and they continued their conversation in private. "When we were on Vulcan, did you experience shortness of breath or muscular fatigue?"

"Yeah?"

"Vulcan has a higher gravity and denser atmosphere than Earth or _Enterprise_. As a result, Vulcans are characteristically stronger than humans, including females." She sat the equipment on the empty, long table; Trip followed suit behind her.

"Now you're just tryin' to make me feel bad," Trip said softly.

T'Pol saw through his joking plea and ignored it. "One of the padds contains the schematics that I recovered from Engineering. I will spend a few minutes attempting to determine if there is any logic in using it."

Trip shuffled the padds around on the table; finally, he picked one up, turned it around, and handed it to her. As she glanced the information over, he quietly asked, "Didn't you once say it was impossible for a human and a Vulcan to mate and have a kid?"

She nodded. "Yet, you wonder how our counterparts could have conceived a child."

"Yeah. I mean, it makes you wonder."

T'Pol turned around and looked at the large screen. "Is the computer still attached to the other ship's visual monitors?"

"I haven't disconnected them," Trip answered. "So they should still work."

T'Pol began manipulating the screen. "Has it been recording continuously?"

Trip nodded, and then pushed his body off the table. "Whatcha doin'?"

"I'm moving the recording back to when our counterparts were last in Sickbay." Her fingers moved gracefully over the console, she sensed from Trip's mind, until she found the timeframe. The two of them were in Sickbay, after she collapsed in the turbolift. She was sitting on the main biobed, and as Dr. Coleman examined her, she appeared shocked. Trip worded something, and as Coleman said it, T'Pol said something longer in length than either of them had previously said, probably an explanation. After a few minutes, they concluded their business and walked out. Coleman watched after them, and then she turned away.

"Can you make it audio, now that we know that's when it came out?" Trip asked, slightly looking over her shoulder.

Any other Vulcan, including who T'Pol was four years ago, would have been disturbed by his movement. However, she found herself enjoying his close proximity. Trip glanced down at her and slightly smiled. T'Pol would've allowed herself to smile back, but some things weren't typical for Vulcans and wouldn't be. She met his eyes and tried to direct him back to the screen.

Trip scowled playfully. "Oh, come on."

She shook her head at him gently. "Not now, Trip. Perhaps later, in your quarters, after your visit to Sickbay."

Trip answered, "Don't forget, T'Pol, you're gonna be there too."

"I haven't forgotten." T'Pol went about setting up audio to hear the explanation for the pregnancy. "Here."

They both listened to the other Trip explode.

"WHAT! How?"

T'Pol calmly explained: "Calm down, Commander. The last time I visited Earth, a colleague of mine, a geneticist, was working on a way to combine Vulcan and human DNA. I volunteered to test the application for side effects, since I said I was not involved with anyone."

"But you can't hide this, T'Pol," the other Trip said with a groan. "The captain's gonna know that . . ."

A feminine voice spoke up, and T'Pol identified her as the doctor. "In case you two forgot, I'm the only one that knows."

Trip apologized. "Sorry. But now the captain's gonna know that you're pregnant, and that one of the guys onboard is the father. And considering the stuff that Malcolm is working on, it won't take long for one of us to spill the beans."

The doctor spoke up again. "And if the captain gets wind of this-"

"We're all dead," the other T'Pol said, "and so is our baby."

T'Pol paused the audio recording and looked at Trip. "I believe that this situation has become more complex."

Trip nodded and pressed the comm. "Tucker to Captain Archer."

"Go ahead, Commander."

Trip glanced at T'Pol. "Can you come to the observation room?"

* * *

><p>Captain Archer looked at the screen as T'Pol reiterated, "Clearly, our counterparts' lives are endangered by public knowledge of the pregnancy."<p>

"But Hoshi said that no one knew about it. And Trip, you said it's their lives, not yours."

"Yeah, I wasn't exactly being much help earlier," Trip said, glancing down. "But it's still a life in jeopardy."

"What can we do?" he asked, looking at them.

T'Pol stayed silent; Trip only shrugged. "Well, I hadn't exactly gotten that far."

Archer paused. He leaned on the table, and then looked back at the screen. "I'll make you a deal. If you come up with something reasonable inside of three hours, I will intercede on your behalf with Starfleet and do the best I can. Get started." With that, he pushed off and left the room.

Behind him, Trip and T'Pol stood side-by-side. They watched him leave and the knowledge that whatever they came up with in the next three hours could very possibly affect the existence of their counterpart's baby came into clear focus. So they turned to the table and set to work on their life-affecting task.

* * *

><p>After Trip had left, Jonathan Archer had made a probably rash decision and ended up waking a crewmember. He had told T'Pol that she could have the morning off; he didn't need her on the Bridge. Accordingly, she had reset her alarm and so she woke up close to noon. She was going to lower herself onto the floor after she woke up and meditate. Trip was in Engineering; there was no use doing anything else.<p>

But as she moved a single blanket aside and stood up, she felt a motivation to go towards the mirror in the bathroom instead. Her hair was still straight down on her forehead; it was assuming a part in the middle similar to Trip's. She brushed it sideways with her hand but stubborn as it was, it stayed in position. After a few minutes, she gave up and was about to start the shower when she turned and looked at her profile.

A gentle hump was beginning to extend outward from her abdomen. For the first time that she could remember, T'Pol gasped.


	21. Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

T'Pol didn't move from the mirror; it took every part of stamina that she had not to fall over. She ran her hand over her stomach futilely, but the bloating stayed. "No," she whispered. She wasn't expecting any outward signs of pregnancy until the fifth month or so. Yet she remembered that her mate was human. She hadn't figured on that making a difference with her, but it had and now she had to deal with it.

She turned the faucet on the shower and moved away from the bathroom. Hoping that a billowy garment was still in her position, she began searching the closet. She found one, laid it on her bed, and began making a mental checklist. There were many things she needed to do. As a scientist, she needed to do research on the differences. She hadn't gotten around to doing it yet, so it was first on her list.

Second on her list, she needed to inform her husband on her change in circumstances. Or, she reflected, perhaps it should be first on her list. Nevertheless, they would happen. T'Pol sighed softly, put a hand to her head, and sat down on the bed. There were too many things going through her head; she felt slightly nauseous. No, she felt nauseous.

T'Pol felt an unpleasant feeling beginning to rise in her throat. She moved as quickly as she could to the bathroom where the shower was still running, shifted to the toilet, and before her Vulcan mindset would stop her, she found herself stooped over the toilet bowl, vomiting the dinner she had eaten in solitary last night.

When she finished, she stretched her hands into the shower and splashed some water on her face. She gasped for air as she shut off the shower and peered into the mirror. And then, before she could think of anything else, she tapped the comm button. "T'Pol to Coleman."

* * *

><p>Trip was in Engineering, basically making sure that the engine wasn't in any danger of exploding, when a crewman pecked him on the shoulder. "Commander, there's a call for you from Dr. Coleman."<p>

He nodded at the younger man. Securing his station, he jumped down the three rungs that compromised the ladder and made a note in his mind, for the sake of his ankles, not to do that anymore. He went upstairs to the computer screen, holding back the emotional appearance. Yet, when Erica Coleman's picture came up on the screen, Trip immediately got worried. "Doc. What can I do for you?"

"Commander, there's a matter of some urgency that needs your attention in Sickbay. Can you come away from Engineering for a few minutes?" Erica asked, and her face betrayed what she wasn't saying: something was wrong, and he better come.

Trip shrugged. "Yeah, I'm just hangin' around down here. I'll be in Sickbay in a few minutes. Tucker out."

She nodded and her face disappeared from the screen. Trip was acting like nothing was wrong; yet inside, he knew that something was wrong with T'Pol. After her pregnancy had come out between the three of them, it could only be about her.

Trip nodded and shook his head at a few people that walked by while he walked to Sickbay. When he arrived just outside the doors, he paused. Then preparing himself for the worst, he entered. All he saw was Dr. Coleman, standing with her arms crossed by a curtained off biobed. Trip nodded at her. "Hey, Doc. What's up?"

Coleman motioned for Trip to walk over to the other side of the biobed. Then, when Erica pulled the biobed curtain back, Trip sighed in relief but also in worry. T'Pol was laying on the biobed conscious, but he couldn't help but notice the rising of her abdomen. "Ah, man. T'Pol, what happened?"

"I was waking this morning when a nauseous feeling came over me," she said. "I began vomiting and called Dr. Coleman."

Trip noted the billowy outfit that she was wearing. "Ya managed to change before you came?"

"I believe," she said, almost ignoring what her husband had said as the doctor stood back a pace or two, "that we need to come up with an effective escape plan."

Trip sat down on the bed, his thighs up against the side of her ribs and stomach. "We will," he replied quietly. "We will."

In the engineer's mind, he had already planted doubt in the captain's mind about Reed. "The captain thinks that Reed might be trying to get rid of us so he can get the command seat. Tell you what: let me finish out the day in Engineering, and then we'll leave. Maybe we'll even go through the anomaly or something. See what's there." He inclined his head down. "Okay?"

She pushed herself up and brought her face only inches away from his. "All right. Meet me in my quarters after duty."

"You've got a deal," he said, closing the distance, and planting a well-deserved kiss on his wife's lips. T'Pol reclined back down and Trip pulled the curtain shut behind him, looking for the doctor. "Hey, Doc."

Erica had been sitting at a computer screen, but turned around at Trip's mention of her. He glanced behind them at the sectioned-off space, and then back to the doctor as he asked, "Does she have to stay here all day?"

With a shake of her head, Erica replied, "No. T'Pol would have been fine on her own, but she wanted a proper diagnosis from me. She can leave when she wants to."

Trip glanced back one more time. "Thanks." He turned and exited Sickbay, pausing against the bulkhead outside. Man, was life screwed up. But he wouldn't have traded it for anything. The two things he loved most were onboard this ship, and he couldn't ask for more. Well, maybe he would ask for a world where it wouldn't kill anyone to have a life like he and T'Pol did, he thought. Then he pushed himself up off the bulkhead and walked back to Engineering, looking forward to getting away from work.

* * *

><p>In the observation room, Trip and T'Pol were on opposite sides of the room when another voice rang through. "Archer to T'Pol. How are things going?"<p>

Trip hit the comm first; he figured that he would want to talk to him as well. "The deflector is almost ready to go."

"We are still researching possible ways to help our counterparts," T'Pol added.

"I just got off with Admiral Gardner," Archer replied. "He says our first focus is on closing the anomaly. I'm slightly amending that. As long as you have a way to seal the anomaly, you can work on helping your counterparts."

"I've been listenin' in on what people are sayin'," Trip threw in. "Our counterparts are considering coming through the anomaly as a last resort."

"Nonetheless, it would seem they are running out of time. T'Pol's pregnancy is physically visible."

Archer groaned. "Keep at it. I'll check in later. Archer out."

Trip tapped the comm again. "Maybe their comin' through the anomaly would be the best thing."

T'Pol turned around to face him. "People would constantly be confusing them with us. Are you sure that it is such a good idea?"

"Otherwise, they could die. Does that sound better?" Trip countered with, turning around to look at her.

T'Pol shook her head.

"The Malcolm from that universe is considerin' killin' Captain Archer and my counterpart, and that Trip is considerin' escapin' _Enterprise_."

"It is not so much a consideration as it is a life-saving choice," T'Pol mentioned, and Trip nodded.

"Okay, right. Is there a world nearby that they could start over on? Settle down without fear of gettin' killed and they can raise a family. There's gotta be somethin'," Trip said, looking back at the monitor in desperation. T'Pol stared at the computer screen as well, but no ideas came to her mind. She was listening to Trip's breathing as he turned around and sat down. "This is so stupid. They can't live normally in their universe, and they can't live normally in ours, either."

She secured her station and walked towards him, pulling out a seat next to him. "May I see your hand?"

Trip nodded. "Ya don't have to ask."

"It was simply polite," she said as he extended it. She turned it upside-down as she felt for a neural point in his open palm. "This is a less invasive form of neuro-pressure. Close your eyes."

Trip obliged. Inside his head, he tried to divert his attention away from the stimulations that T'Pol was awakening in his hand to the white-background that, while he had been on _Columbia_, he had seen T'Pol in a daydream. She claimed that it was where she went when she meditated; Trip said he would have preferred the beach, but hey. You can't have everything your way.

This time, it was. Trip saw himself walking on a beach in the Florida Panhandle near Panama City. He glanced over himself; clad in a Hawaiian shirt and khaki pants and sandals, he was attracting a heavy amount of attention from other women. Yet, the only woman on the beach he had eyes for was standing about 20 meters in front of him, wearing a tank top of sorts and capri pants of sorts. With his eyes closed, Trip smiled in real life as that same woman sat in front of him massaging his hand.

What he didn't know, T'Pol had her eyes closed in meditation and was standing on that beach, seeing the same thing.


	22. Chapter 22

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

_T'Pol watched as Trip, with a smile spread over his face, slowly walked up to her. "Well, fancy meetin' you here."_

"_Another daydream?" she innocently asked. _

_Trip shook his head. "Actually, you're workin' miracles on my hand right now in the observation room. I just needed a break."_

"_Shall we walk?"_

_The beach was suddenly empty, devoid of people. In Trip's mind, it was late July. Normally, there were tons of people on the beach, but he didn't mind. The waves were gently splashing up on the sand, and Trip led T'Pol by the hand to a small parcel of sand that sat apart from the waters edge, about five feet back, with no possibility of being caught by the water._

_T'Pol sat cross-legged on the sand; next to her, Trip sat on the sand, scooped part of it through his hand, and lifted it up, letting the grains fall down. "What's goin' through your mind right now?" Trip asked, propping himself up on his elbows._

"_I believe that you know the answer to that," she answered._

_Trip shook his head, and a tousle of hair fell on his forehead. "Oh, I doubt that."_

"_My mind is not that complex."_

"_I wasn't sayin' it was," Trip said, turning his head and looking at her._

"_You thought it."_

_And he had. "All right. What's goin' through my mind?"_

"_You are wondering how to rescue our counterparts without resulting in damage to the anomaly seal or without hurting them." T'Pol had her eyes closed, but her body was turned towards the sea. _

_Trip nodded and shrugged. He had voiced that opinion in the observation room; it was too easy a question. He looked down the beach westward and what he saw nearly made him fall over. He took in a gasp of air sharply. "T'Pol," he whispered, "take a look."_

_She opened her eyes and looked right. An Earth-native sea turtle was crawling up on the beach. Trip had gotten to see one when he was a kid; he had been with Lizzie at the beach when a sea turtle had crawled up just as this one was presently and the turtle nested. "Don't move a muscle," he whispered. "Just watch."_

_Alone on the beach, they watched as the female turtle made her way to the dunes, fairly close to the water, and she began scooping her nest out. It took a while, but when she was done, she dropped ping-pong sized eggs into the hole in the sand. She covered it again and turned around, heading for sea. The process took almost a half hour, but it had given Trip an idea. "T'Pol."_

_Her gaze moved from the sea turtle retreating to the sea to Trip. "Yes?"_

"_Next time you see me, on Enterprise, if you can supposedly see in my head or something of the like, tell me what kind of turtle that was."_

"_You didn't tell me what subspecies of sea turtle that was."_

_He closed his eyes. "Exactly. It's somethin' you shouldn't know, because I'm pretty sure there isn't a Vulcan sea turtle."_

_T'Pol nodded. "Vulcan is a desert planet. Very well. The next time that I see you on Enterprise, I will tell you what subspecies of turtle that it was."_

_Trip turned away from watching the turtle. "Just 'cause I do think this is a daydream of mine, can you do one last thing before I get back to work?"_

_She nodded. "I will try."_

_Trip thought about reconsidering even saying this, but in the end it couldn't kill anything. "Kiss me."_

_She inclined her head towards his, and then lowered it as he raised his head from the sand. And as their lips met in the middle, the top of the sun disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico, casting a pink and orange glow over the water. Trip guessed they kissed for five seconds, while T'Pol estimated it as 4.2 seconds. When they broke, he looked at her and then slightly smiled. "Ya know, I couldn't ask for a better way to end the day."_

"_I know."_

And then, just like it had never happened, T'Pol released Trip's hand from hers. She knew that he had been experiencing a side-effect of the bond, and this daydream of his only added to it. While he had taken it as just over half an hour, it had only been three minutes.

Trip looked slightly startled when his eyes opened again. "Whoa. I gotta admit that was one weird daydream. Not unpleasant, but interesting."

"How?" T'Pol asked, assuming her scientific persona.

"Well, you were in it . . . on a beach with me in the Gulf . . . and a sea turtle was layin' eggs. It was amazin'."

T'Pol considered telling Trip what he had said, but she decided against it. She would tell him as soon as the time was right; for now they would focus their efforts on saving three lives.

* * *

><p>Trip and T'Pol stood side-by-side in Captain Archer's ready room. Archer was looking at them with narrowed eyes, silently wondering if his two senior officers were in need of a head exam each. But they didn't flinch under his eyes; if anything, they were standing stronger.<p>

"So let me get this straight. T'Pol, you want to beam back to the other _Enterprise_ and tell that Trip and T'Pol what's been going on. And then you want to help them escape. You've found a planet that was uninhabited when we passed by, and they can settle there. Trip, you're just going to stand by and let T'Pol do this?"

Trip looked at T'Pol, slightly chuckled, and then looked back to the captain. "I wasn't all for this, but I'm okay with it. T'Pol's been there and she knows how things run. I really think we can pull this off."

Archer extended his hand for the padd that T'Pol was holding; she gave it to him, adding, "Captain, it is illogical to stand by and do nothing. Commander Tucker's point is valid. According to our simulations, I believe as he does."

"According to your simulations, what's the success rate?"

"I believe that we have a 92% rate of success."

"And the other 8%?" Archer asked.

T'Pol slightly wavered under Trip and Archer's gazes as she said, "It depends on me. There is an 8% chance that something goes fatally wrong, and I die."

"Whoa, you didn't say anything about that earlier," Trip said, suddenly very worried for the woman standing next to him.

She lowered her voice and leaned her head toward his. "The success rate has a higher percentage the earlier that we begin."

Trip didn't look completely reassured, but the paleness was leaving his face. Before either of them could say anything else, Archer said, "All right. I'll call Admiral Gardner and get him to approve this. Dismissed."

Trip and T'Pol turned to leave the ready room as Archer called Hoshi on the Bridge and asked her to put through a call to Starfleet Command. They walked back to the turbolift, entered, and descended to the observation room. "How come you didn't say anything about the 8% chance that you die earlier?" Trip said, crossing his arms.

She looked down. "I knew that you would object."

"Uh, yeah! God, I can't believe you'd try to get that past me. Oh, well. Just a question: what would the rate be if they found this planet in their universe and tried to get there?" Trip asked.

"I believe that the rate would increase to 97% if this happened in their universe," T'Pol said, speculating on the point.

"So what if we somehow hint about this planet to them without beaming you over to that ship? Do ya think it would work the same way, or better?" Trip asked as he uncrossed his arms as the turbolift opened.

T'Pol walked out first, but Trip quickly sidled back to her side as they walked. "Yes, I believe it would."

Both contemplated the possibilities in silence until they passed some other crewmen walking by. Trip looked sideways at T'Pol, words on his tongue, when suddenly she spoke. "I know that you would prefer me to stay on _Enterprise_."

Trip nodded; it had been almost exactly what he was going to say. But he let it pass without any comment. "So ya got an idea?"

"We could transport a padd into Commander Tucker's or T'Pol's quarters. I believe T'Pol's quarters is the preferable choice, since she is somewhat confined to her quarters."

They stopped at the door to the observation room and went in. T'Pol moved briskly to the large computer screen as Trip lagged behind and fell back into a chair. One of the padds on the table contained the planet's location that Trip had found earlier; he picked it up and began skimming the other information.

"The most efficient thing to do is give them the planet's locale as it will help avoid reality contamination," T'Pol said, running her fingers over the console.

"Yeah, maybe," Trip mused, more to himself than to her, yet she turned around to look at him. He stared at the pile of padds, picked up another one, and saw T'Pol out of the corner of his eyes. "What?"

"You haven't been helping as much as I have been working," she said, moving towards the seat. "I believe that I've been proposing most of the ideas."

"Sorry. It's just that I'm a little worried about the deflector. Are you sure the explosion didn't hurt it?"

"Yes. Why?"

Trip turned his head, glancing at the door, and then turned back to face T'Pol. "Call it a hunch, but it's just something I need to check. You stay here, figure this out, and I'm gonna go check on the deflector." He rose from his seat as did T'Pol.

"Are you upset at me?"

Trip sighed, cocked his head at her. "T'Pol, we're both stubborn. We disagree a lot of the time. But I can't stay mad at you," he concluded, slightly smiling at her.

And then, just when he thought that T'Pol couldn't surprise him anymore, she did. She raised her head and kissed him, not on the cheek, but on the lips.

Trip nearly fell over.


	23. Chapter 23

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Erica Coleman looked over her patient in Sickbay; T'Pol was up walking again with her billowy gown flowing around her. It was a good disguise, Erica thought, but if someone came into Sickbay she made a beeline back behind the curtain.

Someone entered, but before T'Pol could hide herself a very familiar voice said, "Easy. Don't hurt yourself, darlin'."

T'Pol filed back out from near the curtain towards Trip Tucker. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, but I overheard something that I'd thought I'd let you gals know about. Somehow, Reed is planning on starting his mutiny hunt today. I have it on good authority that the captain is first."

"Why's that?" Coleman asked, looking around.

"Because I'm planning on surrounding myself with people all day. Get the main bio-bed ready and I'll be back later. T'Pol, you may wanna get out of here and back to your quarters."

She nodded and without another word, walked out of Sickbay. Trip glanced back around to the doctor and said, "When he comes in, act like you know nothin' and give me a call. Okay?"

"Sure thing, Commander. Or should I say, Captain?"

"He's not dead yet," Trip said and he walked back out of Sickbay to Engineering.

* * *

><p>Kissing T'Pol brought back many emotions that Trip had been attempting to keep more or less under the surface, but as he walked to the deflector controls he had a huge grin on his face. At least he knew: T'Pol still felt something stronger than comradeship or friendship, and the feeling it gave him inside was better than anything in the world.<p>

He glanced down the corridor behind him, hearing a gentle patter and clip of footsteps behind him. T'Pol had just started following him; apparently, she ignored Trip's suggestion and was coming up behind him with a padd in her hand. Quietly, she said, "Commander. I apologize for frightening you."

He shook his head as he took the padd. "Nah. I'm worried about you most of the time. I had a feeling that someone was followin' me, and I kinda hoped it was you."

His face was a mixture of shock and bliss. Apparently, it had surprised him as much as it had surprised her for doing it. In preparation for the deflector test, Trip had ordered the corridors around the deflector vacated besides for him and now T'Pol; knowing this, when they arrived outside the Jeffries' tube hatch, he leaned in close to T'Pol and kissed her for only a second on the side of her neck. She slightly moaned as Trip's body against her backed her up to the bulkhead, but yet she whispered, "Trip. We still have work to do."

"But ya didn't mind that, did ya?" he quietly asked, leaving one last kiss on her forehead.

She planted an equally timed kiss on his cheek. "No."

"All right, later. Now, let's get this hatch off and fix the deflector. What do ya say?"

"If the deflector is in need of repair," T'Pol acknowledged with a slight nod. She stood back as he knelt down and pulled the hatch away from the bulkhead.

As it turns out, Trip's earlier hunch was right; sparks were flying out into the tubing, indicating a problem further inside.

Trip groaned and stuck his upper body into the tube. "T'Pol, hit the comm panel for me, would ya?"

She moved to the comm and quickly pressed the button. "T'Pol to Captain Archer."

"Go ahead," Archer replied.

"Captain, we've got a problem," Trip said, pulling his body out of the hatchway. "The deflector malfunctioned after the explosion in Engineering. It should only take about an hour to fix, but otherwise we're good to go."

"Keep me posted. Archer out."

T'Pol shut off the comm again as Trip stood up, replacing the hatch. She glanced at him, asking, "What do you suggest we do?"

"Well, I gotta run to Engineering and grab some tools."

"How can I assist?"

"Well, I guess one of three things. You can come with me, you can stay here, or you can head back to the observation room and work on the letter for your counterpart. But if you don't mind, I'd appreciate the company first of all."

T'Pol came and stood next to him. "As long as you don't attempt to kiss me again."

Trip looked at her and raised his eyebrows, looking slightly disappointed. "_Ever_?"

T'Pol glanced at him and silently, Trip wondered if he came off as slightly stupid judging by her facial expressions. "On the way to Engineering or in front of crewmen."

"Otherwise?" Trip said, drawing her out.

She stopped walking as he did next to her. "What we do in the privacy of our quarters is going to stay in our quarters. Understood?"

Trip chuckled at the way she phrased it. "Yes, ma'am!"

* * *

><p>Inwardly, T'Pol wondered if he was losing his mind or just being funny. Technically, T'Pol was no longer higher ranked than him. She had been in Starfleet for only six months or so; Trip had been in for almost 15 years. The only reason that she could think of for calling her "ma'am" was because of her seniority age-wise. But, judging solely on his character, T'Pol decided it was just him being funny. After all, he was human.<p>

When they arrived outside the hatch leading into Engineering, she allowed Trip to enter first. He literally ran into Hess and quickly said, "Sorry. How's the relay?"

She smiled. "It's replaced. The bulkhead is patched up. What are you doing back here? I was under the impression that you were working on the deflector."

"It's more messed up than I thought. Looked like a miniature version of Engineering earlier. I just ran down here for some tools. Where's T'Pol? T'Pol! Can you give me a hand?"

T'Pol had been inadvertently watching his interaction with Hess, and in her mind it only proved her point about the bond more. She walked over towards him, and then listened in as he said, "Okay. Now, basing this on what you said last time we moved equipment, do you want prize number one or number two?"

T'Pol bent down and picked up the bundle of equipment that she estimated weighed less. "I would not call either of these a prize."

"It's a joke," Trip said as he picked up the other bundle. "A while back on Earth, there were television shows, game-shows, that centered on contestants winning prizes. It's just a saying off of that."

T'Pol nodded. The concept was alien to her and illogical; it was something unheard of on Vulcan. But not wishing to discourage Trip, wisely she said nothing berating and walked with him back to the door. "Where do you speculate the problem is?"

"It's probably just a power relay near the deflector controls in the Jeffries' tube. It shouldn't take too long. After all, we still have the Sickbay appointment later."

"I was meaning to ask you, Commander. What is the purpose of this visit to Sickbay?"

"If we can get an excuse from Phlox," Trip said freely in the corridor, "the captain's agreed to lift the no-fraternization rule on us."

"Have you not been attempting to 'fraternize' with me in spite of that?"

"As a wise Vulcan once said, 'What we do in private stays in private'. Sorry about mixing the words. Can you open that door?"

T'Pol still had a free hand; she opened another door and they found themselves looking at the deflector hatch but in less time than before. "Short-cut. I discovered it looking at a ship configuration one time. We're gonna need it, too. Remember when I reinitialized the warp engines after the Klingons messed with it? When the sparks went flying?"

T'Pol nodded. "Will there be a similar explosion when you reinitialize the deflector?"

"That's why I ordered everyone else out of these surrounding sections. I'm gonna have to completely reload the deflector program and then we're making a run for it back through that corridor. We have to be at least 20 meters away, otherwise we're both paying Phlox a visit for treatment instead of excuses."

T'Pol glanced over the padds she held, found one in specific, and then handed it to Trip. "This padd contains the download protocols for the deflector program."

Trip scanned the padd. "Is there one with the re-initialization protocols on it?" he asked, glancing up at her.

Quickly, she found the specific padd and handed it to him as well. Trip's eyes read the information in detail, sighed, and scanned down the list. "Something's not right. T'Pol?"

She knelt down next to him, and the fabric on her legs started to stretch, reminding Trip of just how slender her legs were. Trip found his eyes were starting to wander from the mechanical problem at hand; T'Pol apparently sensed it, saying, "Your eyes are wandering, Mr. Tucker."

"Now you understand why I asked for a transfer to _Columbia_, right?" Trip asked, moving his gaze back to the padd.

T'Pol leaned back only an inch, somewhat startled. "I was distracting you from your duties onboard _Enterprise,_" she replied in realization.

"Yeah. You had everything to do with me leaving, and I'm sorry I was an idiot about it."

"You're only human. No one is perfect."

* * *

><p>At that moment, Trip was glad he wasn't. Otherwise, T'Pol would have found him pretty boring.<p>

He sighed heavily. "Okay, here's the drill. I'll open the hatch, shut down the deflector, and as the relay starts losing power, it's gonna send a shockwave of sorts through the 20 meters. We'll have ten seconds to get away from it, otherwise we're gonna get roasted." He started to reach for the hatch, but T'Pol reached her hand out for him.

"Trip, wait."

He stopped instantly. He sat back up against the bulkhead, next to her, and sighed again. She looked point-blank at him. "Are you scared?"

"Frankly, I am. I've got doubts about whether this deflector is gonna reinitialize after I shut it down." He glanced to the scanner lying on the floor next to him, and then picking it up and handing it to T'Pol he said, "Here. Go ahead and get to this point. I don't want you around here if something goes wrong."

She leaned her head in close and gave him a feather-light kiss on the lips. "Good luck," she whispered, and then she stood and walked back to the point that Trip had specified.

For his part, he waited until she was out of eye-shot to open the hatch. Even though he had no set time on it, he wanted it done quickly. The sooner, the better. Remembering T'Pol waiting on him around the bend, he pulled the hatch away and started on his work.


	24. Chapter 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

T'Pol stood around the corner where Trip had specified; she held a padd in her hand and was holding her breath. Then suddenly, she and the other crew onboard heard, "Archer to all hands. Brace for impact!"

Then the ship shuddered as Trip came around the corner, crashing into the bulkhead. T'Pol jerked him down to the floor and he glanced at her, whispering, "You okay?"

She nodded and said nothing more; there was time to discuss personal things later.

Under an hour later, T'Pol followed Trip to the Bridge. He kept sneaking glances after her, just checking to make sure that it wasn't a bizarre dream that he was having. Clearly, Trip wasn't mad at her for kissing him earlier; they still had feelings for each other, despite the objective disagreements which were far and wide. With that underlying everything else, it made life a bit easier.

T'Pol and Trip found themselves in the turbolift alone again. T'Pol wasn't wishing for a repeat of what happened in the observation room or near the deflector while other crewmen were around, even if they were in private in the turbolift. The doors would open onto the Bridge at any given moment; thankfully, Trip recognized this as well and stood off to the side.

The doors opened and the captain, missing from the Bridge, was in his ready room. The two officers walked behind the railing to the door, T'Pol pressed the door chime, and from inside Archer answered, "Come in."

They stepped inside to his ready room. "How's the deflector?" Archer asked before they had a chance to say anything else.

"It's reinitialized," Trip said. "And we think we've come up with a plan to help our counterparts as well that won't hurt as bad."

He glanced sideways at T'Pol. She spoke coolly, saying, "We've located a _Minshara_-class planet that is uninhabited. We can transfer the coordinates to a padd and beam it to T'Pol's quarters."

"That way, we won't contaminate their reality and _Enterprise_ still won't be detected," Trip filled in. He handed Archer a padd with all the details on it. "This is the planet. It's not that far from their current location, and it'll give them a head-start. T'Pol searched their database while she was over there. It's still uninhabited, and it's unlikely the senior staff would know."

Archer stood up behind his desk. "All right. Make sure the deflector is ready to go, and then beam the padd over."

Trip nodded; T'Pol stood motionless as Archer added, "Dismissed."

They both walked out to the Bridge. At her station, Hoshi was pressing on her earpiece, slightly frowning. She turned her head around. "Commander Tucker."

T'Pol went on to the turbolift but paused; someone below decks had just called for it as well. Trip walked over to Hoshi. "What's up?"

Hoshi looked up and even T'Pol could see the worry and consternation furrowing on her face. "There's something happening on the other _Enterprise_. Captain Archer was just shot."

Trip and T'Pol glanced at each other, and then Trip turned back to Hoshi. "How did it happen?"

"Apparently, my counterpart shot him under orders from Lieutenant Reed. The captain is in Sickbay."

Trip groaned. "If Malcolm's already started picking off whoever is in his way of the command chair—"

"That means your counterpart is next," T'Pol said, walking down from the turbolift.

Trip turned around and walked back to the captain's ready room.

* * *

><p>Tucker was in Engineering when the call came through from Dr. Coleman. "Sickbay to Tucker."<p>

Slightly worried about his wife again, and not knowing about whether Archer had been shot yet, he raced to the nearest comm. "Tucker here."

"Commander, there's been an accident. Captain Archer's been shot."

Okay, that was that. Two things began racing through Trip's head. One, he desperately hoped that Malcolm wasn't responsible as he was likely next, and two, he hoped T'Pol had been smart enough to get out of Sickbay before it happened. "I need to finish something here and then I'll be there. Tucker out."

Quickly, he went to the engine controls and set something. He stepped back down the ladder, walked out of Engineering, and made his way to Sickbay. Inside, T'Pol was gone; Trip breathed a sigh of relief and then walked to the captain. "Ah, man. What happened?"

"Hoshi shot him at Mr. Reed's request," Coleman filled in. She held a hypospray in one hand; she pressed it to Archer's neck and he quickly woke up.

"Uh, oh, I'm going to hurt her," Archer said once he regained consciousness.

"Easy, Captain," Trip said, holding him down. "She shot you in the shoulder. Apparently, her aim's still not that good."

Archer chuckled just slightly. "Oh, you were right about Reed. What do we do now?"

"I'll play 'captain' for a while; see if Malcolm comes after me." In his mind, Trip added, _And then I'm taking my wife and getting off this god-forsaken ship that's turned into a death-trap._

* * *

><p>T'Pol entered her quarters at Trip's behest; she found a padd lying in her chair that she distinctly thought hadn't been there earlier. She picked it up and began scanning it. All it contained was a set of coordinates for a planet in the locale.<p>

She looked them over one more time, and then went to her computer. Using Trip's access code, she got into the database and found that the planet was inhabited by a group of people who were restricted like Trip and T'Pol were by various restrictions – whether it be race or the like – and the people used their abilities to keep the colony going.

And then she did something that she never did.

The corners of her mouth lifted upwards.

* * *

><p>In Sickbay, Archer was unconscious again when T'Pol walked in. The padd was hidden in the pocket of her robe. "Doctor Coleman. Where is Commander Tucker?"<p>

"He headed back to Engineering. What's up?"

She pulled the padd out. "I believe I've stumbled on a way off of _Enterprise_ that won't arouse suspicion and a destination where we'll be safe afterwards." She handed the padd to the doctor. "See for yourself."

"I think it'll work," Coleman said when she had finished reading it. T'Pol remained standing as Coleman had pulled out a seat. "What do you need me to do?"

"You can work the transporter?" T'Pol asked.

Coleman smiled. "Yeah, it's not that hard. When you do need to leave?"

"Commander Tucker said he wished to finish the day in Engineering. I need to get this information to him so he can set something up in Engineering."

"The captain will be okay," Coleman said. "I'll take this down to Trip. Don't worry. Just get your things packed."

T'Pol nodded, left the padd with Coleman, and walked back out of Sickbay.

* * *

><p>In Engineering, Trip was sitting down at a console on the upper level when he heard Dr. Coleman inquire, "Is Commander Tucker here?"<p>

"Up here, Doc," he said, pushing off and spinning in the seat.

Erica Coleman came up the stairs. "This is for you, Commander. T'Pol found it in her quarters. The planet is for people just like you who have restrictions placed upon them by the current state of things. Our course currently runs across a ship headed for there, and I can transport you two off," she said quietly.

Trip read the information. "I can rig something with the engines so they have to travel at a certain speed and we can transport off. Thanks, Doc. If you see her, tell her to meet me at the transporter at 1800 hours. After my shift ends in Engineering."

"All right," Coleman said, leaving the padd with Trip. He put it in his pocket, went back to the console that he had just been sitting at, and began working on a way to rig the engines.


	25. Chapter 25

We've finally made it to the last chapter! Thank you so much for reading, and please feel free to check out the older archived stories on HouseofTuckerdotcom. There are many talented writers who don't get enough praise. :-D

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Erica Coleman met Trip Tucker and T'Pol at the transporter. With the engines stopped, there wasn't much time to say good-bye, so as soon as T'Pol appeared she held up her hand. Giving her the traditional Vulcan salute, Erica said, "Live long and prosper."

T'Pol held her hand up as well and replied, "Peace and long life."

Erica smiled and turned to Trip, clad in his brown leather jacket and civvies. "Trip, it's been a pleasure serving with you over the past four years. Take care."

"Thanks, Doc," Trip said, putting his arms around her and giving her a brief hug.

She smiled at him, and then walked behind the transporter stand. "Take care. The ship will arrive at the planet in about ten hours."

"Less if I have anything to do with it," Trip said, hauling his luggage onto the platform and giving T'Pol a hand as well. "Good-bye, Erica. Thanks for everything. And keep the captain sedated."

"I will. Energizing."

With that, Trip and T'Pol began to disappear from view. Erica quickly made sure they had reappeared on the other ship and did what Trip had taught her, wiping the memory logs. Then she looked at the empty space where they had previously stood, whispered, "Good-bye," and walked away.

* * *

><p>"Okay, the deflector has been fixed, the padd has been transported to T'Pol's quarters, and we're good to go!" Trip exclaimed, glancing at T'Pol.<p>

They were standing in the observation room yet again. Cleaning up wasn't that big a deal, but with all the stuff that they had been working on during the last week, they had a mess. Trip was lining up padds to carry back to his quarters, and T'Pol was helping to put items into a carrier to take back to Engineering.

Sickbay was still on their agenda; after he dropped the items off in Engineering they planned on changing and walking there together. Archer had informed Phlox of the circumstances and personally, Trip wished he hadn't. Some things were better left private.

Trip shrugged to himself, and then cleared off the screens. Behind him, T'Pol picked up one more object, and then set it on the table as she said, "Do you think _Enterprise_ detected our counterparts' transport?"

"No, I think they're okay," he said, glancing out the window to the anomaly. He propped his elbow on the window ledge. He knew _Enterprise_ was well away from sensor-range and well away from viewing range. Behind him, T'Pol approached him. "Honestly, I think they're gonna be all right."

She laid a hand on his shoulder. "They will," T'Pol repeated.

Trip nodded his head, and then turned around, picking up T'Pol's hand from his shoulder. "Will we?"

T'Pol narrowed her eyes, glaring almost playfully, and then said, "We need to report to the Bridge and initiate the deflector."

Trip just smiled and let her hand gently drop through the air. She retreated back to the table and picked up the padds she had left on the table, and then he took one last glance at her. Outwardly, T'Pol appeared calm as usual. Trip had a hunch that inside she was feeling slightly unsettled. Glancing down at the table, he asked, "You okay?"

T'Pol nodded. "I'm fine. I'm simply pondering where our counterparts are."

Trip smiled. "Me, too. I just hope they're safe."

T'Pol took a step back towards the door. "I'll meet you at your quarters after the anomaly is sealed."

Trip nodded and watched her walk through the door, carrying a padd with her. He glanced to the bundle of information still laying on the table top, smiled, and decided it was well enough to leave it alone. The engineer followed her to the turbolift and managed to catch up with her before the doors closed.

T'Pol glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes. Her hand reached out to press the button for the Bridge, and as she brought it back Trip's hand met her half-way and gave her a squeeze. T'Pol didn't fight it; instead, she let Trip hold her hand until they approached the Bridge. As quickly as they could, they let go of each other and assumed their stations.

From the center chair, Archer glanced between them. "Is everything ready?"

Trip nodded with a little smile. T'Pol nodded as well and ran her hands over her console. Yet, from his station across the Bridge, Trip glanced up at her and she saw him. He smiled slowly enough that she would see it and the captain wouldn't.

T'Pol didn't smile; some things were just insane for a Vulcan, Trip knew. But she glanced across at him, returning the gaze, and Trip thought he saw something else under that stiff Vulcan extremity of hers.

Trip didn't really care; at least they were back on speaking terms again. And at least he knew there was a future possible between them. As he configured the deflector, at least he knew that he would see her again after duty. And it wouldn't be brushing him off anymore.

* * *

><p>Trip helped his pregnant wife away from the transporter pad as a crewman stood in front of them. "Mr. Tucker, T'Pol. Welcome to New Hope. I'm Tyrone Bryant, captain."<p>

"Thanks for meeting us," Trip said. "I wasn't sure that you had gotten my message."

Tyron shrugged. "We're used to getting encrypted messages. The pilot's in the front and she wants to talk to you about improving the engines."

Trip nodded and walked to the front of the shuttle. T'Pol followed behind him. She sat down in a seat, reclined it back slightly, and he sat next to her for just a moment. "You okay?"

"I'm still wondering how the planet's coordinates arrived in my quarters. Physically, I'm fine."

"Okay. I'm gonna go chat with the captain for a minute, and then I'll be back." He stood, leaned in to give her a kiss on her forehead, and smiled. "Be right back."

She watched him go to the front and sit back down again. In the seat across the aisle, another couple leaned over. The woman smiled pleasantly at her. "When are you due?"

"I'm uncertain, as my mate is human. But I've only been pregnant for eleven weeks."

"I can't imagine the problems you faced. We know that you were on _Enterprise_. Being on a Starfleet ship like that, between us, couldn't have been that problem-free."

"Your assumption is correct. Otherwise, we would have stayed. I was the science officer and my husband was the chief engineer."

"Didn't the captain kidnap you, originally?" the man asked.

T'Pol nodded. "Originally I was there against my will. But over time things eased for me. But not by much."

From the front, she heard Trip chuckle and then he walked back to her. "I'm gonna see if I can get the engines running a bit higher – oh, sorry, didn't mean to interrupt."

"Don't worry. I'm Elena Covington, and this is my husband, Owen."

"My husband, Charles Tucker the third."

"But people call me Trip," he filled in.

"I know. We originally lived near the Starfleet compound in Sausalito," Owen said as Trip sat down next to T'Pol. "We ran a boarding house for entrants and I seem to recall you were among them, Commander."

Trip pointed a finger at them, slowly remembering in his mind. "'Alpha House'?" Trip laughed and replied, "Wow, it's been a long time. Don't know why I didn't recognize you. How've you been?"

"We've been good, Trip," Elena called out. "You see, we were hiding alien travelers in our basement and some military police threatened to arrest us. So we left Earth. New Earth colony was our only choice. I had no idea you were heading there as well."

Trip shrugged and then in his mind slowed to a millisecond. He had some old friends and his wife to talk with on the way to New Earth; he also had a new one on the way. Slowly he smiled; he couldn't imagine his life being any better.

With T'Pol, it literally couldn't be any better.

* * *

><p>T'Pol went to Trip's door, rang the door chime, and waited only a second until Trip replied, "It's open."<p>

She entered. Trip was dressed casually – as she was – in a blue shirt and gray pants. Appeasing on the eyes, Trip smiled. "So. You ready to go?"

"Are you?" T'Pol asked, just as ironically. They were both completely dressed; Trip even had his shoes on.

"Yeah. I probably should have told you that there's a movie afterwards. I was planning on hijacking you, if you don't mind."

"What movie is it?"

"_Frankenstein_," Trip replied, slightly chuckling.

"Then I don't mind at all," she replied curtly, stepping out of his quarters into the corridor.

"Just promise me you aren't going to suggest that Soval sees it."

They began walking to the turbolift, towards Sickbay, and began talking about items in general. The deflector had been fired without any problems; Trip had a few modifications he wanted to make to the engines; T'Pol was agreeing and criticizing him half and half; and _Enterprise_ was heading back to Earth for one reason or another.

Before they realized it, T'Pol found herself standing outside the entrance to Sickbay. Trip stopped, looked at her, and then said, "Well, shall we?" and began to reach for the door pad.

T'Pol felt her arm reaching out to stop him. "Trip, wait."

Trip stopped immediately. "Yeah."

She stood up on her toes to whisper just one word in his ear. After she said it, Trip was still standing in place and looking slightly stupefied. T'Pol reached around him to open the door and entered, leaving him standing outside.

And all she had said was, "Loggerhead."

Trip stopped himself from falling over and eventually smiled and walked inside behind her.

Fin.

* * *

><p>Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!<p> 


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